Providence Cancer Institute Center for Sexual Health and Menopause
At Providence, our goal is to treat the whole person during and after cancer treatment. Our sexual health experts care for people who have been diagnosed with cancer and have experienced changes to their sexual health due to cancer treatment or risk-reduction surgery.
Providence Cancer Institute Center for Sexual Health and Menopause
At Providence, our goal is to treat the whole person during and after cancer treatment. Our sexual health experts care for people who have been diagnosed with cancer and have experienced changes to their sexual health due to cancer treatment or risk-reduction surgery.
Meet the Team
At Providence, you'll have access to a vast network of dedicated and compassionate providers who offer personalized care by focusing on treatment, prevention and health education.
Cancer treatment, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormone (endocrine) therapy, radiation therapy and surgery, may cause physical or emotional changes which can negatively affect your sexual health. We specifically offer support to females (people assigned female at birth) who have undergone cancer treatment and to individuals who have undergone preventative surgery, including surgeries to remove breasts, ovaries and/ or the uterus, to reduce their risk of developing cancer.
Sexual health side effects from these treatments may include:
- Anxiety around sexual health
- Changes in body image due to surgery, hair loss (alopecia) and weight changes
- Decreased interest in sex
- Decreased pleasure with sex
- Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), including vaginal dryness, burning, itching, irritation as well as urinary urgency, frequency, leakage (incontinence) and recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- Intimacy challenges within relationships
- Pain with sex
- Symptoms of medically and surgically induced menopause, including changes to mood, skin and hair, hot flushes, sleep disruption and joint pain
- Vaginal and vulvar pain/dryness
There are a variety of treatments that our experts might recommend. These may include:
- Education about your body, vaginal health and intimacy
- Hormone replacement therapy (systemic and vaginal)
- Internal referral to short term sex therapy
- Referral for trigger point injections
- Referral to other specialists, including pelvic floor physical therapists and community sex therapists for long term sex therapy
- Suggestions to enhance communication with your partner
- Treatments to address pain, including vaginal dilator therapy and information about non-hormonal vaginal lubricants and moisturizers
Our sexual health and menopause experts will provide compassionate and confidential care to help navigate changes to your sexual health. Our multidisciplinary care team prioritizes personalized and comprehensive care and support specific to you.
Before your first appointment, we’ll send you a detailed questionnaire to complete and bring with you to the appointment.
Your first appointment will take one hour. If you are comfortable and partnered, you are encouraged to bring your partner. During this visit, we will review your medical history and do a focused exam. We will then discuss your concerns and work with you to create a personalized treatment plan.
You may have shorter follow-up appointments to discuss improvements or any necessary changes to your treatment plan.
You may also have follow-up appointments with our oncology social worker. She is a trained sex therapist who can provide short-term counseling around sexual health.
- Life After Cancer Treatment
- North American Menopause Society
- American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists
- Womanlab.org - platform where every woman and everyone who loves and cares for women can learn truths about sex
- I Asked My Doctor About Low Libido During Breast-Cancer Treatment by Dr. Kelly Michelson, MD, MPH on womensnews.org
- Life After Cancer Treatment: Body Changes and Intimacy (National Cancer Institute)
- Sex and Woman with Cancer (American Cancer Society)
- Changes in Intimate and Sexual Relationships after Cancer (Patient Power)
- Sex, Relationships, and Cancer (Macmillan Cancer Support)
Part of Providence Cancer Institute of Oregon
Providence Cancer Institute is a leading provider of cancer care in Oregon, and part of the largest community-based cancer-care network in the United States. Regardless of where you go for care, you have an entire team of cancer experts working together to provide a personalized, whole-person approach to your care. At Providence we see more than a cancer diagnosis, we see the life in you and are committed to helping you live well again.