![Scheme female reproductive system (vagina crop)-en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Scheme_female_reproductive_system_%28vagina_crop%29-en.svg)
The dimensions and shape of human
vagina
In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...
s are of great importance in
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
and
surgery, in addition to their relevance to
sexual pleasure
Sexual stimulation is any stimulus (including bodily contact) that leads to, enhances and maintains sexual arousal, and may lead to orgasm. Although sexual arousal may arise without physical stimulation, achieving orgasm usually requires physica ...
and
childbirth
Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births glob ...
; there appears to be no one way, however, to characterize the vagina's size and shape.
In addition to variations from individual to individual, the size and shape of a vagina in the baseline state can vary substantially during
sexual arousal and
intercourse.
Carrying a baby to term, ''i.e.
parity'', is associated with a significant increase in the length of the
vaginal fornix
The fornices of the vagina (sing. fornix of the vagina or fornix vaginae) are the superior portions of the vagina, extending into the recesses created by the vaginal portion of cervix. The word "fornix" is Latin for "arch".
Structure
There are t ...
.
The potential effect of parity may be the result of a stretching and elongation of the birth canal at the time of
vaginal birth
A vaginal delivery is the birth of offspring in mammals (babies in humans) through the vagina (also called the "birth canal"). It is the most common method of childbirth worldwide. It is considered the preferred method of delivery, with lower m ...
.
There are a number of studies that have been done into the dimensions of the human vagina, but it has not been as intensively researched as
human penis size
Human penises vary in size on a number of measures, including length and circumference when flaccid and erect. Besides the natural variability of human penises in general, there are factors that lead to minor variations in a particular male, ...
.
Dimensions in the baseline state
![Rugae vaginales](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Rugae_vaginales.jpg)
A 1996 study by Pendergrass et al. using
vinyl polysiloxane castings taken from the vaginas of 39
Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Anthropology
*Anything from the Caucasus region
**
**
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region
*
*
*
Languages
* Northwest Caucasian l ...
women, found the following ranges of dimensions:
* lengths (measured using rods): ;
* widths: ;
* introital diameters:
A second study by the same group showed significant variations in size and shape between the vaginas of women of different ethnic groups.
Both studies showed a wide range of vaginal shapes, described by the researchers as "Parallel sided, conical, heart,
..slug"
and "pumpkin seed"
[ shapes. Barnhart et al., however, were not able to find any correlation amongst the race and the size of vagina. They were also unable to characterize the vaginal shape as a "heart, slug, pumpkin seed or parallel sides" as suggested by the previous studies.] A 2003 study by the group of Pendergrass et al. also using castings as a measurement method, measured vaginal surface areas ranging from with a mean of and a standard deviation of
Research published in 2006 by Barnhart et al., gave the following mean dimensions, based on MRI scan
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...
s of 28 women:
* Mean length from cervix to introitus
An introitus is an entrance into a canal or hollow organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Elec ...
: .
* Mean width:
** at the proximal vagina: ;
** at the pelvic diaphragm
The pelvic floor or pelvic diaphragm is composed of muscle fibers of the levator ani, the coccygeus muscle, and associated connective tissue which span the area underneath the pelvis. The pelvic diaphragm is a muscular partition formed by the le ...
: ;
** at the introitus:
A 2006 U.S. study of vagina sizes using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) on 28 volunteers between 18 and 39 years old, with heights ranging from , and weights between , revealed a greater than 100 percent variation between the shortest () and the longest () vagina length.
Medical devices
Given the large range in vaginal dimensions noted in studies such as the above, many fitted vaginal devices, for example pessaries
A pessary is a prosthetic device inserted into the vagina for structural and pharmaceutical purposes. It is most commonly used to treat Stress incontinence, stress urinary incontinence to stop urinary leakage and to treat pelvic organ prolapse to ...
, do not adhere to a "one-size-fits-all" principle.
Sexual arousal
Lawrence, citing Masters and Johnson
The Masters and Johnson research team, composed of William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual disorders and dysfunctions from 1957 until the 1 ...
'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 in an unstimulated state, to during sexual arousal with a speculum in place.[
]
See also
* Vaginoplasty
Vaginoplasty is any surgical procedure that results in the construction or reconstruction of the vagina. It is a type of genitoplasty. Pelvic organ prolapse is often treated with one or more surgeries to repair the vagina. Sometimes a vaginopl ...
* Vulval structure
* Vaginal health
References
{{reflist, 30em
Anthropometry
Gynaecology
Obstetrics
Vagina