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Teaching Anatomical Language, AI in Medicine, and Why Three OB-GYNs Stopped Delivering Babies with Dr. Meredith McClure and Dr. Ashley Fuller
Description
Women's health is a team sport. That's something we've all learned the hard way—not in residency, but years later when we realized how much we weren't taught about vulvovaginal health.
In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Meredith McClure from Dallas and Dr. Ashley Fuller from Seattle. They co-host the Labialogic podcast and both specialize in treating the conditions that most doctors either miss or dismiss—lichen sclerosus, desquamative inflammatory vaginitis, recurrent BV and yeast infections that won't go away.
All three of us left obstetrics years ago and now run gynecology-only practices. And we've all come to the same conclusion: what we learned in training wasn't enough. We were taught not to examine the clitoris. We weren't taught proper vulvar anatomy. We weren't taught how to diagnose or treat the complex cases that show up in our offices every single day.
We talk about why there's no one-size-fits-all approach to recurrent infections. We discuss the tests that doctors over-rely on for BV diagnosis that aren't actually accurate. And we share some of the worst medical gaslighting stories we've heard—like telling a PGAD patient "you've been through childbirth, how bad could this be?"
We also discuss AI in medicine, why private equity is a problem, and how teaching women proper anatomical language changes outcomes.
Highlights:
- We were all trained in residency not to examine the clitoris, which means many vulvar conditions get missed.
- Recurrent BV has no one-size-fits-all approach. Some DNA tests only check for Gardnerella and lead to false positives and overtreatment when what works depends on each person's unique microbiome.
- Don't use one-dose Monistat. It can cause severe inflammatory reactions in the vulva.
- Some vaginal inflammation doesn't show up on swabs and requires a microscope exam to diagnose properly.
- Teaching women proper anatomical language (knowing vulva vs. vagina, labia minora vs. majora) actually improves treatment outcomes.
- Lichen sclerosus is one of the most commonly missed diagnoses because doctors aren't examining the vulva properly.
We hope that this episode gave you information that can help you understand that there are clinicians out there that want to help and find answers to your vulvovaginal health concerns.
I appreciate everyone who is part of this community, and if you haven't already done so, I would appreciate you subscribing as it helps more women find the show so that they can get the information that they are looking for.
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