Maintaining and promoting a satisfying and healthy intimate relationship with your partner might be challenging at times. One aspect of relationships is helping your partner to take care of their genital health.
If you are not sure what to do to achieve or promote a healthy and satisfying intimate relationship, there’s no reason to be despondent. This article will look at a few guidelines you can follow to help your partner with their genital health and ensure a long-lasting, safe relationship.
Seek Medical Advice
Much like any medical condition that affects any part of the body, if your partner has been complaining about persistent pain, unusual symptoms, or discomfort, you should encourage them to get a professional diagnosis. Getting a diagnosis early is the best way to prevent further complications or simply gain peace of mind.
Your partner should get a diagnosis as soon as possible since you never know what you are dealing with. For instance, pearly penile papules, which you can learn more here, are painless and harmless, whereas cancerous lumps are painless too, but far from harmless.
Provide Emotional Support
It’s important to remember that genital health concerns or issues that your partner is facing affect not only their physical well-being but their psychological and emotional well-being too. Cancer concerns for both men and women can be very emotionally overwhelming, and your partner will need your support during these times.
Similarly, urinary tract infections that cause pain and frequent urges to urinate can cause feelings of anxiety about discomfort during sexual activity or future infections and feelings of frustration and distress. Letting your partner know you are there for them and not being judgemental of their emotions will go a long way in reassuring them and keeping the relationship strong.
Talk About Self-Examination
One of the best ways that you can encourage your partner to be more proactive about their genital health is to educate them about self-examination. Keep in mind that not everyone is aware of the importance of self-examination, and many people aren’t aware of what to look for.
You can encourage your partner to perform regular self-checks and advise them to look out for the following:
- Unusual lumps
- Unusual bumps
- Areas of unusual sensitivity
- Pain and discomfort without cause
- Unusual odors
By performing these self-checks regularly, they can potentially avoid dangerous health complications by getting treatment early. Remember to be understanding and patient while explaining, and give your partner enough opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings.
Practice Communication
Practicing honest and open communication is an effective way of helping your partner with any genital health issue or concern they are experiencing. Your partner needs to feel comfortable enough to tell you anything that is bothering them, such as:
- Discomforts
- Pain
- Embarrassment
- Concerns
- Changes
You should also be able to tell your partner if you have noticed any changes, as this will help to identify concerns before they become problems. Most importantly, genital health issues can cause emotional and psychological stress, which can impact a relationship. Open communication helps to keep the relationship strong as long as the communication is free from judgment.
Be Aware of Changes
As mentioned above, you should inform your partner about any changes you notice, and this begins with being aware of these changes. If you notice that your partner is experiencing:
- Pain
- Discharge
- Unusual odors
- Redness
- Itching
You should raise these concerns. Similarly, if your partner notices anything out of the ordinary, they should consult with a healthcare professional before problems become too severe.
Encourage Check-Ups
In order to be aware of changes, you should encourage your partner to go for regular check-ups. While performing self-examination is a great step toward ensuring genital health, going to a healthcare professional for check-ups is preferred.
The main benefit of routine visits to a healthcare professional is to identify any potential problems early on. This allows the issues to be addressed before getting worse, which is particularly important for genital-related cancer.
Practice Safe Sexual Practices
Finally, to help your partner ensure genital health, you should practice safe sexual practices and encourage your partner to do the same. Using condoms isn’t only helpful as a contraceptive but to prevent STIs (sexually transmitted infections).
If you have had unprotected sex or, prior to the relationship, have been sexually active with new partners, going for routine testing is one of the best things you can do. There should be no judgment during this process since it is vital to do this regularly with your partner.
