[Vaginal injuries during coitus]

Based on a prospective study on a continuous series of women admitted on emergency for post-coitus hemorrhage. The authors present an epidemiology and prognosis of vaginal injuries in to coitus in the Dakar University Teaching Hospital. Over a period of 33 months (October 1991 to December 1994), 106 cases were recorded, giving an incidence rate of 32 cases per year. The average profile is that of young women (26 years), usually during the post-partum period (41.5%) or in the second phase of menstrual cycle (32%). The main influencing factors found included: chronic vaginal infection (74%), position during coitus (especially that dorsal decubitus with hyperflexion and abduction of the lower members (56%), sexual abstinence of 3 months on average (21 days to 2 years), and use of aggressive product "aphrodisiac" for vaginal mucus. The damage was most often located at the bottom of dead end of Douglas and could be estimated at 5 cm long and 5 mm deep. The immediate prognosis was favourable, after stitching with absorbable thread, healing was obtained within 8 to 15 days. Given a retrospective view about 2 to 5 years, morbidity was represented by 3 recurrent cases and 13% after effects of the deep dyspareunia type.