Is this Lichen Sclerosus? Please help!

Hi,

Thanks for your advice. If I am suffering from this and I would have been for years, then why is sex not painful and why has no closing up occurred of any sort? This is the thing that confuses me as it's literally just the itching.

Every person is different and has different life experiences genes and diet. Because there are many different conditions that can affect the area sometimes diagnosis is difficult. Auto immune as well as many other conditions  conditions are affected by mood,  pollution personal interactions, infections and treatment regimes. We with LS suffer from the fact that very little research has been done. We believe that health professionals do look at sites like this and hope that someone will fund proper research. However the treatment with potent steroids we are offered now is far superior to past treatments. When I was diagnosed there was very little I do in the net, the treatments varied horribly, I read do one poor soul who was in the MidWest where the medics were ill informed, who believed it was her poor hygiene that cause the condition and would scrub herself with bleach. It didn't work! Women were given male hormones, major surgery or told to go away it was a part of getting old! So while we do have big issues to contend with gradually knowledge  and treatments are improving it hunk this site an invaluable resource for LS ers and professionals as well as statastitions and researchers.

i think more information about our gene make up would help treatment regimes to be tailored individually

sorry for the length of my reply which succinctly is ...we don't know! 

how I hate predictive text! I hope you can make sense of the reply I sent you!

I can thank you. So do you think itching alone could be LS? Or would it typically have other symptoms too?

For years the only symptom I had was itching and occasional soreness from scratching.

Interesting. I've never been that sore from itching. I don't even have to scratch it because it's never that bad (touch wood)

Maybe yours is just allergies?? That's what my doctors suggested but then I got a really bad flareup last spring and developed the white patches after having itching for very many years!

Is itching the only symptom you have?

My itching can be "drive you up the wall"type. And could hardly control myself in public. So excessive was the itch. Embarrassing.

There are lots of infections one can acquire, either cos of being under par, sexual partners, bowel fluids leaking from the back passage, poor hygiene ,constant diarrhoea ...bowel contents have digestive enzymes that will cause redness irritation inflammation. Diet can play a part too And   thrush esp if having had a course of antibiotics.

contact dermatitis from washing powders, bleach, dyes, fabrics esp new that have been treated with chemicals so should be washed before wearing them       

So you see the best you can do is to make a note of what is specific to you and see if excluding possibilities will help you come to a conclusion....often only a biopsy will confirm a diagnosis

LS comes in many forms you only have to read some of the past threads to see this is the case. We can only really tell others what we know that relates to our own condition

good. Luck

 

Yes that's what I was thinking and it's been suggested to me. Itching is my only symptom and it's not unbearable, I very rarely even have to scratch it, so I know it's too excessive and from what other people have said about LS it is much worse.

Yours sounds awful! I hope they get to the bottom of it. Do you think yours came from thrush originally?

I think the cream you've been given is what I had.

The lack of white patches confuses me too, and I think if it's been years surely they would have appeared now?

I went to see a gp who wasn't particularly helpful. But she said because it's not severe it could just be from clothing etc. It's not severe at all though, some days I don't notice it and it's worse with tight clothes and tights. Was yours ever like this?

Do let me know how you get on.

Also have you had any pain at all?

I don't think it came from thrush as both times it came back negative.

Yeah I thought if it was ls then white patches would appear too. I didn't want to admit this but I took a pic using my phone on zoom. As I can't see down there myself lol!

I did notice around the clitoris and the labia, the inner lips, it has white like long streaks, look like shiny scars. I don't no what they are. Do t no if that's normal. There not big patches,

Hmm I wonder then.

I know that LS can cause scarring sometimes too so it could well be that for you.

Yes I'm going to go back next week to see my actual gp and ask to be referred. Mine has only gotten better in the years I've had it, especially since using the thrush and steroid cream so I think it could well be an allergy. If that's my only symptom I am quite hopeful.

What make is the cream you've been given?

i had insane itching for years but no white patches. Last spring I suddenly had white patches and was finally diagnosed after suffering for many years.

So you can have the itch for many years before any patches! That's interesting. I've had this for years too so maybe it still could be ls. Did you have a biopsy if you don't mind me asking?

Hmm yes but I wouldn't describe mine as "insane" it's just mild and isn't constant and is affected by things I wear so I am stearing more towards an allergy now after hearing about everyone else's symptoms but I'll have to book to see a dermatologist and find out.

I don't have any white patches, just itching and soreness as well, and I've been diagnosed with LS 

How bad is your itching? And where is it sore? Have you found anything that's made it better yet?

really. In a way that makes me feel abit more positive because it could be ls, as you have been diagnosed with ls and had no white patches. So maybe it's the same for me.

I would rather have nothing wrong, I can't stand this, but I would rather get diagnosed with something that I can treat. Otherwise I'll just be stuck like this with nothing to help it. So hopefully it might be ls then I can get the correct treatment and get back to normal.

Thanks Jess

That's a pain for you though. Having to be careful with what you wear etc. Yeah there's no harm in getting it checked out. Just to rule out things. Peace of mind then 😀

It was quite bad but once I started using the steroid cream it improved a lot, it's normally sore in the areas where pubic hair is, I use coconut oil for the itching and soreness, I would recommend you use it as it's also a anti fungal and antimicrobial, and has skin healing properties. So it can't do any harm in trying it 

Good, you'll have to let me no how you get on.

I hope the waiting times are not to long.

I'm going next week to, get my swab results and be referred if it's negative. Which I'm pretty sure it will since it was negative last 2 times.

The cream I have been given is canesten HC clotrimazole hydrocortisone. Don't no how much steroid is in it, I'm sure she said it was only a little.

I think I had LS in my teens and I didn't have white patches till I was 44! Unless I did on my anus. I just never looked there and that's where my itching started. No, I didn't have a biopsy. With the white patches and extreme itching, my gynocologist agreed that it appears to be LS.

And it could very well be allergy. doctors blamed it on that for years for me. But I had extreme itching many times

Ah okay. I've never had any itching there. It's literally just my vulva area. It could well be LS but I am now leaning more towards an allergy, I just don't know what to. I will request to see a dermatologist when I see my actual doctor next week. Thanks for all of your advice.

This started with me in my teens aswell. it wasn't everyday though. I'm 30 now. The last few years have gotten worse, more intense, and about the last 7 months it has become everyday all day and it hasn't stopped.

Did yours happen everyday? I'm putting canesten cream on about 4-5 a day to ease off the itching but it doesn't go, only slightly helps sooth it.

My anus itches daily. Throughout the day. Nothing like the vulva area, but it itches.

I will probably have a biopsy as there's no white patches to diagnosis if from just looking.

I'll let you no what my thrush results are ( will be negative since my last 2 were) and the date of my gyn app when I get refered next week