A comprehensive health center opening at UCLA will be the first on the West Coast to address the physical, psychological and emotional issues that can cause sexual problems in women.

The Female Sexual Medicine Center at UCLA is a new, multidisciplinary center that will operate under the direction of a team of two sisters, urologist Jennifer Berman and therapist Laura Berman. The center will treat patients and conduct research with physicians from many specialties, including urology, psychology, neurology and gynecology. Currently, the staff is seeing patients on a limited basis, but within the next few months will be working full time.

"Since sexual problems can have several components, we want to offer a multidisciplinary, mind-body approach that we can tailor to each individual patient's needs," said Laura Berman, who has specialized in sex education for the past decade.

"We are pleased to be one of the first centers in the country to offer such comprehensive treatment options for women in Southern California," said J. Thomas Rosenthal, chief medical officer at UCLA Medical Center. "The center will rely upon a unique collaboration of UCLA departments."

The new center will provide treatment for a wide range of issues such as low sexual desire, sexual arousal problems, difficulty achieving orgasm as well as pelvic pain. The Bermans, authors of a pioneering new book, "For Women Only: A Revolutionary Guide to Overcoming Sexual Dysfunction and Reclaiming Your Sex Life," will address all aspects of a woman's sexual response and the potential problems that develop throughout her sex life.

An estimated 30-50% of American women suffer from sexual dysfunction at some point during their lives. According to the Bermans, women can experience sexual dysfunction at any age. Medical conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, medications, childbirth, hysterectomy and other pelvic surgeries, menopause and aging can all contribute to sexual response problems, orgasm difficulties and loss of libido.

Emotional and psychological factors, including relationship conflict, self-esteem and body-image problems, can also affect sexual response in women and need to be addressed simultaneously with the medical/physical problems, the sisters said.

"Women don't have to suffer alone with these problems anymore," said Jennifer Berman, who is currently completing a fellowship in female urology and pelvic floor reconstructive surgery at UCLA. "It's a quality-of-life issue. Our center's goal is to provide more answers and better treatments for women with sexual problems."

The Bermans, based in the urology department, are currently conducting research on the effects of topical and oral hormonal agents, such as testosterone, on female sexual response and libido, and genital blood-flow-enhancing agents, which aim to improve vaginal lubrication, genital sensation and orgasm. Jennifer Berman's work in directing clinical trials using blood-flow-enhancing agents to help female sexual response has been well-recognized.

They also will focus on identifying the crucial nerves and blood vessels critical to female sexual response. To better understand female pelvic anatomy, the Bermans aim to create "nerve sparing" surgical procedures for women to preserve important nerves that may affect sexual response. In men, such "nerve sparing" procedures are performed on a routine basis.

For more information about the new Female Sexual Medicine Center at UCLA, temporarily located at 924 Westwood Blvd., call (310) 825-0025 or (800) UCLA-MD1.