Burning, rawness, and stinging pain at the vaginal opening is not a common malady but for those who develop this problem known as vulvodynia there is nothing more consuming. The burning can be relentless from the moment after stepping out of bed until falling back asleep at night. The only mild reprieve is to separate legs with an ice pack draped over the vulva. During the day its hard for these women to find a minute where they are not thinking about their vagina, something that tends to be so foreign for women without this problem.Focus on work, staying on task and concentrating can be difficult. Anything that touches the vulvar tissues can exacerbate the pain such as tight clothing, walking, sitting on soft cushions and exercise. Placing tampons and intercourse can be nearly impossible. Also any secretions such as  perspiration or urination can exacerbate the pain.

While all the above stimulants can be quite obvious to those with the condition, there is a group of other irritants that are not so obvious. These include those irritants in common products such soaps, detergent, lotions, body rinses, shampoo and conditioners. Consider the patient’s experience below who experienced a marked response to using neutral, hypoallergenic and hypocontactant products a recommended by Dr. Fowler of Fowler Gyn International in Phoenix Arizona:

“I am delighted to report that after a very short time of using the products for sensitive genital skin recommended by Dr. Fowler, that alone eliminated 70% of my chronic vaginal pain, even before starting the vaginal treatment.  Much of the burning and itching vanished, and, still more importantly, the constant onslaught of yeast, BV, and UTI's ceased. I could sit again quite comfortably, and I was no longer constantly "aware" of my vaginal pain. It's a simple, inexpensive, and easy to follow protocol -- and the results in my case were noticeable immediately. I began by using the soap, shaving cream, and ointment, and then added the vulvar washes. The last ingredient was quite essential to my progress.  I'm currently 51, and  I've had fifteen years of almost unremitting pain. During this time, I've been to more doctors than I can name here -- all with no results until I found the Fowler protocol. It's amazing to feel almost normal again. I had really lost hope.  I hope women -- and their partners! - everywhere find Dr. Fowler. His approach is literally life-changing. M. Bloomington, Indiana.

It was September in 1996 at Hotel Dino on the shore of Lake Majorie in Northern Italy when I spoke before the International Society of the Study of Vulvovavinal Disease. This is a society of the Worlds vulvovaginal experts at that time consisting of about 125 members. My talk was titled “Hypocontactant Products for Vulvodynia Patients.” No one at the society believed what I said even though I hailed from the famous Mayo Clinic. Now 20 years later, most experts recommend attention be paid to these irritants but few are very comprehensive about it. If you miss one, its like you have missed them all. The reason most experts still miss the mark is that only some cases of vulvodynia have a dominant irritant based etiology but its my opinion that all case have some component of topical irritant provocation. If you have vulvodynia and want to follow in the footsteps of thousands of women who have achieved successful results on Dr. Fowler’s protocols, contact Dr. Fowler at FowlerGynInternational.com or call the Phoenix offices at 480-420-4001.