Understanding Medical Findings in Child Sexual Abuse: An Update For 2018

When child sexual abuse is suspected, it is important for medical professionals to understand normal as well as abnormal features of the external genital and anal tissues in children. Physicians and other healthcare professionals who rarely perform a detailed examination of these areas may mistakenly interpret normal findings, or findings caused by conditions unrelated to abuse, as signs of injury due to sexual abuse. For this reason, it is important for all medical professionals to have a basic understanding of the appearance of the genital and anal tissues in children. Examples of normal and abnormal genital and anal findings are provided via annotated images. This review presents a research-based summary of how medical findings in children should be interpreted with respect to possible sexual abuse. Resources for obtaining expert review of medical findings are described.