Callum Jones
A woman born with a rare condition that means she doesn't have a vaginal canal has detailed some of the biggest issues she's faced with her health.
The unidentified woman took to Reddit and explained how she was born with a condition known as Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a congenital condition that affects roughly one in 5,000 women.
The rare health condition means you're born with an absent or underdeveloped uterus, an absent cervix and shortened vagina.
Ovaries are typically still present and functioning for those with MRKH, though they do not have regular periods.
Advert
The condition is something people are born with, but it's not typically diagnosed until their teenage years.
One woman, who's 20 years old, took anonymously to the 'Ask me Anything' Reddit forum and penned: "I have MRKH syndrome, a condition that causes girls to be born with an incomplete reproductive system. My external genitalia is normal. I have a labia and clitoris. But I am missing a vaginal canal and uterus. I do have ovaries though."
Many flocked to the comments section of the post to ask the Reddit user some questions, including one who wondered whether people told her they are 'jealous' she can't get pregnant.
The woman explained: "Yeah that happens a lot. It used to upset me because I really wanted to be able to get pregnant naturally but now I don’t really want kids and I’m definitely grateful that I don’t have periods, so I can understand why other women would be jealous and that doesn’t bother me.
"Although, I’d advise them not to say things like that to women with MRKH because it can sound insensitive."
Another Redditor asked under the viral post if the condition brought the woman 'significant issues' in day-to-day life, to which she responded: "It makes dating and sex more complicated but other than that it’s not really an issue."
Elsewhere in the Reddit thread, she went on to explain how she was diagnosed with MRKH and how that didn't come until her teenage years despite having it from birth.
"I actually wasn’t diagnosed until I was 15, so my parents didn’t even know about it before that," she explained.
"I just thought I was a late bloomer but my doctor was concerned that I hadn’t gotten my period, so I ended up getting an ultrasound and an examination and that was when they found out I didn’t have a uterus or vagina."