What does a hymen look like? Most guys don’t know, and many girls aren’t even sure themselves. Is it a membrane? Actually, the hymen is a thin mucosal fold located at the opening of a woman’s vagina that contains connective tissue, blood vessels and nerve endings. There are different forms of hymenal holes in the center of the hymen, which allows women to have a smooth discharge every time they have a period, but very few women have congenital atresia, which causes blood to pool in the vagina after menstruation, causing persistent pain in the vagina, which can only be cut open surgically. It is important to know that not every woman’s hymen is the same, and there are many different forms. In other words, each woman’s hymen may have its own “unique” shape. The annular and crescent-shaped hymens are relatively common; the septal hymen is rare; the sieve hymen is extremely rare; and the non-porous hymen, or congenital atresia, is also relatively rare (in some women, there is no congenital hymen, i.e., the hymen is missing). The 7 specific forms are as follows: 1. The majority of them are ring-shaped, with the hymenal hole located in the center, mostly round or oval; 2. The second is crescent-shaped, on the side of the vaginal opening, more often located on the back side of the vaginal opening, with an oval hymenal hole; 3. Some are serrated, with a regular arrangement of natural incisions, shaped like serrations, and such hymens are easily mistaken for ruptures caused by human destruction; 4. Umbrella-shaped, the shape of the hymen is similar to an open umbrella, this kind of hymen is generally thick and flexible, in the first time may not rupture completely, even if the rupture occurred in multiple sexual life, may not occur bleeding; 5, the more rare have septum-shaped: that is, the hymen hole has two, there is a membrane between the two holes, called septum. There is also an incomplete septum; 6, extremely rare sieve: the hymen is scattered with multiple small holes as sieve; 7, there is no hole hymen: that is, the vaginal opening is completely closed by the hymen, no hole in the membrane, commonly known as “stone girl”. In addition to the variety of forms, the thickness of each woman’s hymen also varies from person to person. Some women have a thin hymen that breaks easily during strenuous exercise or sex and bleeds relatively little, even without being noticed, while a thicker hymen may not break after sex. In addition, the degree of looseness of the hymenal opening varies from woman to woman, with the loose ones allowing for two fingers and the tight ones for only one small finger. References: Wang Baojie, Hou Yiping. Forensic medicine (7th ed.) [M]. People’s Health Publishing House,2018.