Vulvodynia Checker

Vulvodynia is chronic pain of the vulva — the outer part of the female genitals — that lasts about three months or longer and has no identifiable cause found on examination. It's most often described as burning, stinging, rawness, or soreness, and some people feel aching, throbbing, or swelling too. The pain can be constant or come and go, and it can be there at rest or only when the area is touched. It is a real, recognized medical condition and it is common — not a sign that anything is wrong with you as a person, and not something you have to simply endure. Importantly, it is treatable.

Clinicians describe vulvodynia along two dimensions. The first is what brings the pain on: provoked pain happens only when the area is touched or pressed — during sex, with tampons, from sitting, tight clothing, cycling, or an exam — while unprovoked (spontaneous) pain is present on its own without any touch, and can be constant or come and go. The second is where it's felt: localized pain is focused at one spot, most often the vaginal opening (the vestibule) — this is often called vestibulodynia — while generalized pain is felt across the whole vulva or moves around. Some people have a mix. Naming the pattern doesn't diagnose it, but it helps a clinician target treatment.

Painful sex — dyspareunia — is a symptom, meaning pain that happens during or after sex. Vulvodynia is chronic vulvar pain that can be present even at rest or with light touch, not only during sex; its provoked form can include pain with sex, but it isn't limited to it. If your pain happens only during sex, our dyspareunia checker looks at that specifically. Lichen sclerosus is a different thing again: it's a vulvar skin disease that usually shows visible changes — white, thin, or thickened patches of skin — that a clinician can see on examination, whereas vulvodynia is defined by having no clear cause visible on exam. Because lichen sclerosus and infections can look similar and need their own treatment, a clinician rules them out first — which is exactly why a visible rash or white patches belong in the 'get examined' group rather than pointing to vulvodynia.

No — and it's built not to. Vulvodynia is a diagnosis of exclusion: it can only be made by a clinician who examines you and rules out other causes, including an active infection, a vulvar skin condition, and menopause-related dryness. A checker can't examine you or run those tests. What this tool can honestly do is read whether your description of the pain — how long it's lasted, what it feels like, and when it happens — fits, partly fits, or doesn't clearly fit the vulvodynia pattern, so you know whether it's worth raising. It never says you do or don't have vulvodynia.

A clinician starts with your history and a careful vulvar exam — sometimes gently mapping where the pain is (a cotton-swab test) — and takes samples if needed to rule out an infection or a skin condition. Because vulvodynia is a diagnosis of exclusion, that ruling-out is the point of the visit. Treatment is real and often works: options include self-care measures, topical treatments, pelvic-floor physical therapy (the pelvic-floor muscles are often involved), medicines used for nerve-type pain, and, less commonly, other therapies or a procedure for certain localized cases. Many people improve, especially with a clinician who takes vulvar pain seriously — a gynecologist or a vulvar-pain specialist is the right place to start.

Yes. This checker runs entirely in your browser. Your answers are read on your own device and are never sent to a server, saved, or shared — close the tab and they're gone. It's general educational information based on ACOG, the National Vulvodynia Association, and MedlinePlus patient guidance; it can't diagnose you, isn't an exam or a test, and doesn't replace an evaluation by a licensed clinician.