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EXTERNAL
GENITALIA
URETHRA AND
PERIURETHRAL AREA
PERIHYMENAL AREA
AND FOSSA
NAVICULARIS
HYMEN
ANO-GENITAL EXAMINATION: HYMEN
ANO-GENITAL EXAMINATION
� Description of genitalia: injury/no evident injury at the time of
examination
� Injury/no evident injury at the time of examination
� Injury/no evident injury at the time of examination
� Describe shape and appearance 15
� Describe injury at the time of examination
PERINEUM � Injury/no evident injury at the time of examination
DISCHARGE
INTERNAL AND
SPECULUM EXAMS
ANAL EXAMINATION � Injury/no evident injury at the time of examination (describe location)
15. Hymen Shape and Appearance
Describe the shape of the hymen using the characteristics below. Also, describe the thickness and
the degree of estrogenization of the hymen.
Shape: Thickness and Estrogenization: Normal Variants (including):
• Annular • Thin • Hymenal cyst
• Crescentic • Beginning estrogenization • Mound
• Cribriform • Estrogenized • Rolled edges
• Imperforate • Septal remnant
• Septate • Superficial notch
No measurement of hymenal opening will be performed during the medico-legal examination.
Studies have demonstrated that hymenal opening measurements in the evaluation of child sexual
abuse are limited in their usefulness; measurements vary with the child’s position or state of
relaxation, or the techniques used to obtain measurements (Berenson, et al., 2002).
In People v. Baring, Jr. (GR No. 137933, January 28, 2002), the Supreme Court of the Philippines
declared, “The insertion of a finger or any foreign matter inside the hymenal opening under the
pretext of determining abuse is unnecessary and inappropriate.” The Court further stressed that “the
value of collecting evidence should always be weighed against the emotional cost of the procedure
and examination of the child.”