What is Vestibulitis?
Vestibulitis is a long-lasting pain condition that means there is pain in and around the vaginal opening when something is inserted into the vagina or pressed against the opening. The pain usually occurs during intercourse or physical activities such as horseback riding or cycling. The condition is most common in women between 15-30 years old who have not undergone vaginal childbirth.
So why does one get vestibulitis?
The cause of the pain is that the nerve fibers at the entrance to the vagina have become hypersensitive and react more to external stress. How much it hurts depends; some only experience pain during intercourse, while others can feel severe pain from just light touch.
Vestibulitis is still a relatively unknown diagnosis, both among women in general and within research. In recent years, it has received more attention alongside other women's diseases such as endometriosis, for example.
How to recognize vestibulitis
The most prominent symptom of vestibulitis is pain in the genital area. The pain can be described as a burning sensation, even with very light touch. In the worst cases, the pain can last for a couple of days after the triggering touch. It is also common to have some redness around the vaginal opening. Due to the physical discomfort, anxiety and low mood are often experienced. It is common for the condition to affect self-confidence and for one to blame oneself, for example, because vestibulitis affects the sex life.
If you have vestibulitis, you probably experience one or more of these symptoms:
- Burning, intense pain in the vaginal opening during intercourse, the pain can be triggered even by very light touch
- The pain can persist for several days in severe cases
- You feel pain when inserting a tampon or a finger into the vagina
- You experience pain from activities such as horseback riding, cycling, or similar
- The area around the vaginal opening may become somewhat red
Causes of Vestibulitis
Currently, it is not entirely clear why some women develop vestibulitis, but there are certain factors known to affect the mucous membranes in the genital area, making them fragile and therefore also causing hypersensitive nerve fibers:
- Vaginal intercourse despite the woman not being wet
- Sexual abuse
- Infections in the genital area
- Various types of hormonal contraceptives (some birth control pills contain a certain corpus luteum hormone that can make the mucous membranes in the genital area more fragile)
Large number of unreported cases
The number of women diagnosed with vestibulitis has increased only in recent years, and it seems that the number of unreported cases is very large. The reason for the increase may be that more people seek care or that more actually receive the diagnosis. Exactly how many suffer from vestibulitis is unknown because the diagnostic criteria vary between Sweden's regions.
Between 2001-2016, nearly 9,000 women aged 15-44 were treated for vestibulitis, according to a study conducted by the National Board of Health and Welfare in 2018. About 54,000 women were treated in total if vaginismus, dyspareunia, and other relevant diagnoses are also included.
If you think you have vestibulitis, you should seek medical care
Pain in the genital area should always be examined by a doctor. To confirm that it is vestibulitis, a gynecological examination is needed and you should describe your symptoms, what triggers the pain, and how you experience it. The earlier you receive care, the greater the chance of recovery.
There are currently no medications that cure vestibulitis, but by combining different treatments, the pain can be relieved and the affected person can become symptom-free. Below you can read about what you can do yourself to relieve your symptoms:
- Avoid washing the genital area with regular soap
- Add extra moisture
- Use a pad instead of a tampon during menstruation
- Avoid penetrative intercourse when you are in pain
- When you have intercourse, use lubricant
- If possible, try to avoid stress as it can worsen the pain and increase muscle tension
- Try doing pelvic floor exercises
- Try different relaxation exercises; according to studies, for example, yoga and mindfulness can have a positive effect
This is how an examination is conducted
In an examination of vestibulitis, the doctor looks to see if the area around the vaginal opening is red. The doctor then tests where it hurts by gently pressing with a cotton swab against different parts of the mucous membranes; if it hurts too much, you should of course tell the doctor and ask to stop the examination. The doctor will then take some discharge from the vagina to examine under a microscope, and usually also tests for yeast and bacteria.