Extremely itchy vulva and anus

Your symptoms sound like it could possibly be Lichen schlerosus, an autoimmune condition of the skin treated with steroid ointments (initially and perhaps longer-term depending on seriousness of the condition & response to treatment) - see section on this website. I would advise that you go to your GP asap as, if it is LS, the sooner it's diagnosed, the better. S/he probaby won't know anything about it so specialist dermatologist is needed to confirm dagnosis. Check online for a gynaecological dermatologist somewhere in your area (not many of them either) so you can suggest getting a referral at the visit - you may have to wait a while for an appointment. GP will still go through all the differential diagnosis processes in the meantime but they really need to be told about LS so they can educate themselves on it as well. Even if you don't have LS, we need to raise the GP level of education about the condition so that when someone does come in with it, they will get the advice and treatment needed. Hope it goes well for you .

Have you seen a dermatologist? You may have a mild contact dermatitis or another vulvar skin condition. Family docs and gynecologists are not very adept at diagnosing it. Hope you're feeling better at this stage!

Hello, aja93431! I have exactly the same condition for 3 years now. Been to 4 ob-gyne and 1 derma. I also took flucanozole but 2 weeks after taking it, it came back! 😫😭 I also have allergic reaction to daktarin (miconazole) cream and nizoral (ketoconazole) cream, which are both antifungal cream. I cant forget that night when I applied Daktarin cream, it was terribly itchy and didnt make me sleep. I was also crying. Sometimes I already feel helpless.. 😞 But, recently I consulted a dermatologist, she checked my labia majora and anus, and her findings was contact dermatitis.It is possible that i have allergies to some detergents, that caused me to have dermatitis. So she gave me this cleansing solution that is soap-free. Felt good.  however, she advised me to apply betamethasone cream... First and 2nd day, it was fine. On the 3rd day, it was already itchy. My labia majora became saggy and swollen. So I stopped. I still need to see her again this weekend. But, I also did some experiment recently before I consulted this dermatologist, I stopped using feminine wash like lactacyd, which was prescribed by my current OB. I wash after I pee using plain water. Thank God, the itch lessened. Only that, at night when I arrive home, thats the time i itch so badly and scratch it so hard. I hope you are feeling better now. But, I do more hope, that yours had been cured already. Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you!

I have been driving myself crazy for three months with ongoing genital irritation. It started in my vulva, then moved to the anal area, then it was in both. I first went to my primary care where they said it was a yeast infection and they sent me home with Nystatin powder. It helped for a bit but the irritation came back, and I also found out my yeast test came back negative so it wasn’t a yeast infection anyway.

Next I went to my gyno and got every STD test under the sun. All of it came back negative. At this point, the irritation was so bad I was losing my mind. I had never had anything like this issue until now and I hadn’t done anything different with my body so there was no explanation why it just popped up suddenly. The whole vulvar and anal area was red, raw, itchy, swollen, and sometimes I would see just the tiniest drops of blood after wiping. I changed everything: my soaps, detergent, diet and all that. My gyno gave me a steroid cream. It helped with the symptoms but did not cure anything. As soon as the cream was off, the irritation was just as bad. 

I went to 2 different gynos trying to figure out this issue. I convinced myself it was cancer, lichen sclerosis, and every other vulvar disease I could find online. My 2nd gyno said she just didn’t see anything wrong and told me to keep using the steroid cream like the other gyno suggested. This is after I have changed my creams twice, had the powder, and been told to get over the counter hemorrhoid ointment even though I didn’t have hemorrhoids. I had done full blood work and everything was clear. 

Finally I decided to just go to a dermatologist. And after two weeks of doing what she told me, I am finally starting to feel like it’s healing. She did give me another steroid ointment, but it’s more of a gel and not a cream like the others were. But her main suggestion for treatment was using regular baby diaper rash cream after every single visit to the bathroom. She mentioned AD ointment and Butt Paste. I used AD for a while but I think the Butt Paste is what truly is healing it. It’s a harder consistency to deal with but it seems to be getting the job done. She also said do not wash the area with anything but cold water. She also said to not even worry about scrubbing it that vigorously, because the area is supposed to have bacteria anyway and a simple rinse is good enough. 

She also told me that this type of irritation is super common and that 9/10 times it is not something serious. I hope this helps someone. For the first time in months, I am feeling normal again. And I wanted to share because I have been frantically googling my symptoms and hoping for an answer like many of you for too long!