The presence or absence of a hymen is often used as a criterion to determine virginity, and its importance cannot be overstated. For this reason, it is hard for both men and women not to be curious about what it looks like and to find out what it is.
So, what is a hymen? What does it really look like?
What you imagine a hymen to be is probably a round membrane with some holes in it. Most common hymens in clinical practice are oval or even crinkly and daisy-shaped.
Around a woman’s external vaginal opening, there is often a thin mucosal fold that covers the hymen, which is the hymen and contains connective tissue, blood vessels and nerve endings. When viewed from the external vaginal opening, this ring of connective tissue can be seen with mucus in both the inner and outer layers. Most women have a hymen that is about 1-2mm thick (of course, it varies from person to person).
In fact, women’s hymens do not all look the same, but can be divided into the following 7 types according to their morphological characteristics.
1. Annular hymen: The hymen is ring-shaped, surrounding the perimeter of the vaginal opening, and its width is basically the same in all parts. The hymenopore is located in the center and is mostly round or oval.
2. Semilunar hymen: the hymen is half-moon or crescent-shaped on one side of the vaginal opening, often on the back side of the vaginal opening. The width of this type of hymen varies, with the middle of the membrane being the widest and the two corners being the narrowest, the free edge being smooth and neat, and the hymen hole being oval. This type of hymen is second only to the annular hymen in terms of incidence.
3, umbrella hymen: the shape of the hymen is similar to the umbrella, is also a kind of normal hymen. The thicker and more flexible umbrella hymen may not rupture at all the first time, and may not bleed even if the rupture occurs during multiple sexual encounters.
4, jagged hymen: hymen is characterized by multiple superficial cuts on the free edge based on the ring, half-moon or lip-shaped hymen, the cuts are evenly distributed, regularly arranged, more consistent in depth, like jagged teeth; some cuts are deeper, lobed, also known as lobed hymen. Sometimes there are multiple papillary protrusions on the free edge, like cuttings, called cuttings hymen. The various shades of natural incision in this type of hymen should be distinguished from the rupture of artificial factors.
5, septate hymen: hymen hole has two, there is a membrane between the two holes, called septate. This type is rare.
6, sieve hymen: the hymen is scattered with a number of small holes as sieve, this type is extremely rare.
7, non-porous hymen: the vaginal opening is completely closed by the hymen, there is no hole in the membrane, commonly known as “stone girl”.
In short, there are many hymens, no uniform standard, thickness and shape, and even some women are born without a hymen, which is a normal physiological phenomenon. Although the vast majority of hymens rupture during the first sexual intercourse, some women also have the possibility of hymen damage caused by cycling or other strenuous exercise, so a ruptured hymen is not necessarily not a virgin.
References.
[1]Wang Baojie,Hou Yiping. Forensic medicine (7th ed.). People’s Health Publishing House,2018.