A Paralympic cyclist has revealed she needed two rounds of surgery on her vulva because it had become so damaged by saddles.
Hannah Dines, 25, said the constant pressure of leaning forward on a saddle led to ‘huge swelling’ on one side of her genitals which she couldn’t get rid of.
After years of suffering, which have seen her progress to be the fourth best trike racer in the world, she says women in cycling have drawn the short end of the straw.
Ms Dines said women are left ‘sitting right on the money’ when men can move their genitals out of the way.
Her experience will no doubt be familiar to others – figures have shown rising demand for drastic surgery to remove parts of the vagina to make cycling more comfortable.
Hannah Dines, 25, revealed she has had to have surgery to remove a lipoma – a tumour of fat cells – from her vulva after repeated pressure from a bike saddle caused the growth to become ‘hard and massive’
Ms Dines, who was born with cerebral palsy, is a Para-cyclist who has represented Team GB and came fourth in the world championships in 2015
Writing in a piece for The Guardian’s G2 magazine, Ms Dines revealed her surgeon likened the ‘long-term trauma’ to her vulva to what he had seen in patients who ‘compulsively rub up against bedposts’.
Ms Dines, born in Glasgow, has cerebral palsy and originally competed as a runner before switching to three-wheeled cycling in 2013.
She ranked fourth in the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in 2015, and came fifth in her category at the Rio Paralympics in 2016 riding for Team GB.
But the success has taken its toll on her body, leading to infections, saddle sores, ingrown hairs, open wounds and blisters – all on her genitals.
‘While valuable parts of the male genitalia can be moved out of the way, female cyclists sit right on the money,’ she wrote.
And part of the problem, Ms Dines said, lies in many saddles being designed for men and later adapted for women.
Alongside this, she said the female side of the sport isn’t taken as seriously – there is no equivalent Tour de France for women, for example, and not much research into conditions like hers, which mean treatments aren’t as good.
Ms Dines developed a lipoma, a tumour made of fatty tissue, on one side of her vulva.
Lipomas are not cancerous but do grow over time and can become uncomfortable or get in the way.
Ms Dines, who trains six days per week, explained hers developed as a result of repeated pressure on her groin from the saddle.
It persisted for five years and, by 2018, had become ‘hard’ and ‘massive’ and wouldn’t go away.
‘Having a vagina means having pain,’ Ms Dines said as she revealed the lipoma on one side of her vulva, which caused ‘huge swelling’, lasted for five years before she had it removed
She has had two operations to remove the growth in February this year, and had cancer tests to check it wasn’t dangerous.
‘The problem is,’ she said, ‘vaginas are already so associated with pain – there’s periods, penetrative sex when you aren’t ready, penetrative sex when you are ready and the mother of them all: labour.
‘Having a vagina means having pain so maybe being a cyclist with a vagina means pain with a bit more pain added on top.’
Increasing numbers of female cyclists are experiencing groin problems inflicted by their hobby, research has shown in recent years.
A surgeon on Harley Street in London, Angelica Kavoumi, revealed in 2016 she was seeing rising numbers of women asking for ‘saddle surgery’.
This painful procedure, which can cost around £4,000-a-time, involves cutting off part of the inner labia to stop them rubbing and being pinched against the seat of their bicycles.
In the same year the American Society of Plastic Surgeons revealed demand for labiaplasty had spiked 40 per cent, with members performing 12,000 of the operations – but it could not put a number on how many were linked to cycling.
Ms Kavoumi said three years ago she noticed around nine women per week were asking for the ‘straightforward’ op, up from three per week a year earlier.
At the time she told FEMAIL: ‘For most women, it is an issue of comfort. It’s not about body image; it has more to do with sport and quality of life.’
A study by scientists at Yale University in the same year found cycling more than 100 miles per week – not a lot for a professional cyclist – could damage the genitals.
Researchers found this level of exercise led to an increase in pain and numbness, and generalised ‘sexual dysfunction’ for some.
They also saw a lot of cycling could lead to recurrent thrush or urinary tract infections – their research was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.