How do YOU measure your vag depth?

[Zoey]

Wondering precisely what people are referring to when they talk about depth and how they arrive at that measurement.

1.  For you, where does your vaginal 'depth' start: at the bottom edge of your labia.....or are you more "conservative" and measure right from the actual entrance to the vaginal canal?

2. If you're someone who measures starting at the actual entrance to your vaginal canal, do you measure from the bottom of your vaginal entrance (at perineum)......or from the top of your vaginal entrance?

3. Do you mark the spot on your dilator with your finger then measure up to that spot w/ a ruler?

4. How deep are you?

Your answers would be very helpful to me. Thanks so much!   

[Girl Beyond Doubt]

There is a ruler engraved (inches and centimeters) on my dilators provided by Dr. Suporn's clinic, and I measure from where my labia majora begin touching the dilator, as instructed by the clinic staff. The ruler gives the distance to the extreme tip of the dilator. According to this, mine is 6 3/4" or 17cm deep, the same as immediately (a few days) after surgery.

[Zoey]

I measure from where my labia majora begin touching the dilator, as instructed by the clinic staff.

Wow, so you measure from the bottom of your labia majora, not from the actual hole entrance? Thanks.

[suzifrommd]

Wondering precisely what people are referring to when they talk about depth and how they arrive at that measurement.

1.  For you, where does your vaginal 'depth' start: at the bottom edge of your labia.....or are you more "conservative" and measure right from the actual entrance to the vaginal canal?

2. If you're someone who measures starting at the actual entrance to your vaginal canal, do you measure from the bottom of your vaginal entrance (at perineum)......or from the top of your vaginal entrance?

3. Do you mark the spot on your dilator with your finger then measure up to that spot w/ a ruler?

4. How deep are you?

Your answers would be very helpful to me. Thanks so much!   

1. I measure from the "point of contact" between the dilator and the vagina. I.e. how far up the dilator does it touch skin, and where does it stop.

2. I measure from the "top" of the dilator, the part that faces toward my upper body.

3. There are spots on my dilator. I measure based on how many spots can be felt on the surface of the dilator vs. how many are inside me.

4. Five and a half inches. This number is bigger if I use a narrower dilator, but this is on the bigger of the three dilators the surgeon gave me.

[OCAnne]

Hello,  No measurements on the set provided but the longest is 6 1/2 inch's.  I push it in until the base of the dilator makes contact with body.  The set includes a detachable narrow handle to interchange within smaller dilators.

My surgeon advised me to concentrate on width not depth.  He said getting a penis past the opening and in a couple inch's is usually the problem.  Experienced trans. woman familiar with the subject have advised the same.

Hopefully I get a chance to try things out in a 'RLE', 60 days from now!

Thank you,
Anne

[Zoey]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm really trying to figure out if  most post-ops who talk about their depth on these boards are measuring from the bottom of their labia or if they measure from right up at the opening of the actual vaginal hole. (sorry to be so graphic)

[Rejennyrated]

It always amuses me that so many transwomen are so worried about depth and girth - rather like men who worry about length... oddly you dont generally hear women worrying about their size.

In any case the bigger challenge is posed by angles - the angle of opening of the neovag is likely to be different because the pubic symphysis is narrower... The effect of that will be that the vaginal opening will be more posterior than usual which will produce a much bigger difficulty in insertion... That said most people wont have a problem.

I don't generally worry about depth because experientially its never been a problem, but my old dilators do have the depth dots on them and I know that I can easily take the largest one to a depth 6.5 inches measuring from the actual vaginal opening itself - not adding labia. Now bearing in mind that my surgery is positively ancient I would assume that modern techniques should match that.

Back in my day it was generally thought that the reason why most people lost depth was that they didnt dilate properly (usually claiming it was painful) I always pushed on through any discomfort and I wasnt frightened to be pretty firm either - prefer to trust my surgeon to have done his sutures properly. The end result 31 years on speaks for itself I guess. I don't appear to have lost any depth in all that time, and these days I only dilate about once a month or less.

[Zoey]

It always amuses me that so many transwomen are so worried about depth and girth - rather like men who worry about length... oddly you dont generally hear women worrying about their size.

Thanks. 

I have reason to be bothered about depth though: I only have between 2-3" with a medium dilator. (I am 5' 5" tall.)

[Rejennyrated]

Thanks. 
I have reason to be bothered about depth though: I only have between 2-3" with a medium dilator. (I am 5' 5" tall.)

Ah I understand now. That sounds a wee bit low, but it might still be workable... most natal females have only just over 3 inches maybe 4 at most. I frequently have to do bimanual palpation and speculum exams as part of my clinical practice so I get to see quite a few vaginal canals and you'd be surprised. Of course they are stretchy but still I think as long as you dont end up with a superstud you'll probably be ok.

(And if it does prove a problem there are procedures like using a roll of skin from the thigh - that can be used to increase the depth. Not surgeons do that procedure - but several do so don't worry if you have an issue it iis fixable.)

[Zoey]

Ah I understand now. That sounds a wee bit low, but it might still be workable... most natal females have only just over 3 inches maybe 4 at most. I frequently have to do bimanual palpation and speculum exams as part of my clinical practice so I get to see quite a few vaginal canals and you'd be surprised. Of course they are stretchy but still I think as long as you dont end up with a superstud you'll probably be ok.

(And if it does prove a problem there are procedures like using a roll of skin from the thigh - that can be used to increase the depth. Not surgeons do that procedure - but several do so don't worry if you have an issue it iis fixable.)

Well there's this:

"Lawrence, citing Masters and Johnson's Human Sexual Response (1966), states that pages 73 and 74 of that book show that typical vaginal depth in Masters and Johnson's participants ranged from 7–8 cm (2.8–3.1 in) in an unstimulated state,to 11–12 cm (4.3–4.7 in) during sexual arousal with a speculum in place."

So that's kind of daunting. I recently started dilating again and I'm hoping I can deepen by another inch or so with time. I really don't want to go to the cost & trouble of having a deepening surgery.

I'm really in awe and envious of the women on this forum who have such a nice depth of 4" or more.

[Laura_7]

Thanks. 

I have reason to be bothered about depth though: I only have between 2-3" with a medium dilator. (I am 5' 5" tall.)

One option would be asking the gyn for estrogen cream to soften the tissue, and dilate.
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,95839.msg722916.html#msg722916
A further option would be to look up suporns manual for dynamic dilation.
And there are quite a few others who use coconut oil to dilate... it has antifungal and antiviral properties, and its molecules are relatively small... quite a
few say it softens the tissue...

all at your own risk... and talk it all through with your doc.


hugs

[Zoey]

One option would be asking the gyn for estrogen cream to soften the tissue, and dilate.
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,95839.msg722916.html#msg722916
A further option would be to look up suporns manual for dynamic dilation.
And there are quite a few others who use coconut oil to dilate... it has antifungal and antiviral properties, and its molecules are relatively small... quite a
few say it softens the tissue...

all at your own risk... and talk it all through with your doc.


hugs

Thanks very much. I am using coconut oil to dilate currently. Do you think Estrace cream would offer signifantly better deepening potential than the coconut oil?

[Laura_7]

Thanks very much. I am using coconut oil to dilate currently. Do you think Estrace cream would offer signifantly better deepening potential than the coconut oil?

Yes.
There are studies showing that the tissue of a neovagina can turn into a mucosa with the influence of estrogen.
So a well adjusted hrt (I'd prefere bioidentical estrogen, bioidentical progesterone and possibly a low dose of t ) and some cream can help.
The cream might be only necessary for a few weeks, and later only sporadically. Just talk it through with your doc.

Some people say the tissue also becomes more stretchable over a longer time, due to hrt. More like a cis vagina.

hugs

[Jenna Marie]

Brassard suggesting measuring by looking at the lube on the dilator, and basically using it like a dipstick. In the beginning, I could see in the mirror that my labia were so swollen that some lube was rubbing off on them and getting left on the dilator; however, now, if I spread them apart a little with my hand the lube is a fairly accurate measure because I put it on the tip and it gets dragged along to the edge of the vaginal opening as I insert it. If I do try measuring by looking at the dots lining up with the end of the vaginal canal, I get roughly the same depth, too, so that's basically double-checking each method against the other.

Oddly enough, I was 5.5" then and I'm about 5.5" now, but since part of that was swelling I presume I've actually gained a little bit of depth. It seems perfectly adequate, particularly since the average penis is about 5" and not all of *that* will be inserted if it's attached to a human with bones and joints and whatnot instead of a plastic dilator. Width seems more relevant when it comes to penis size (ask my wife, who complains that I was thicker than the biggest dilator and it hurt her sometimes...), anyway.

[AnonyMs]

I wonder how much difference in depth there is using the different measurement techniques, and if it accounts for any of the depth differences people report post-op?

[Julieb1]

Also be aware that the angle of your pelvis will change depth aswell an also if you have done a number 2 there is only so much room in there x

[dkl]

I've always wondered about this too, I use the dots on my dilator, and I measure from the actual entrance to the vaginal canal just below the uretha. Using this method I can get just past the third from the last dot.