Bartholin glands are palpated at which clock-face positions during examination?

• A. Four- and eight-o'clock positions
• B. Seven and eleven o'clock positions
• C. One and five o'clock positions
• D. Two and ten o'clock positions

Answer: (A)

Bartholin glands are the greater vestibular glands, located on the left and right sides of the vaginal opening in the posterior part of the vestibule. They lie roughly at the 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock positions around the introitus. When you palpate the vestibule during a exam, you assess these spots to feel for normal glands or masses such as Bartholin gland cysts or abscesses. This location also helps distinguish them from other nearby glands, like the Skene (paraurethral) glands, which are near the urethral opening at about 1 and 11 o’clock. A mass or tenderness at the 4 o’clock or 8 o’clock positions is characteristic of Bartholin gland pathology.