What is Genital Itching?
Itching in the external genital area is a pathological condition that is caused in women by the action of so many provoking factors.
Causes of Genital Itching
All causes of the disease can be divided into 4 large groups.
- Effects on the external genitalia from the external environment. These include: infectious lesions, pollution (for example, dusty air and linen pollution during work in production), temperature agents (strong prolonged cooling), mechanical irritation (coarse underwear, masturbation), the use of certain drugs, contact with irritating chemicals substances.
- Effects due to pathology of the internal genital organs. These include: pathological discharge in inflammatory processes of the uterus and its neck, constant excessively frequent washing of the vagina, irritation of the woman’s external genital organs with urine during the act of urination, which gets here in the presence of pathology (for example, in the form of a congenital urogenital fistula).
- Pathology from the internal organs: the presence of such a patient with diabetes mellitus, hepatitis with severe yellowness of the skin, chronic inflammatory diseases of the kidneys with a significant violation of their function, various pathologies from the hematopoietic organs, impaired normal functioning of the endocrine glands with hyper- and hypofunction of the thyroid gland , reducing the production of sex hormones by the sex glands.
- Mental factors, such as fear of an upcoming surgery, strong or prolonged stress, etc. Most often, this group of factors is realized and leads to pathology in impressionable women with an unbalanced psyche.
In terms of identifying the causes of the development of the disease, the age group to which the patient belongs is very important. With the development of itching of the external genitalia in adolescents, vulvovaginitis or fungal infection of the mucous membrane of the genital organs should first be suspected. Among women of middle childbearing age, among the possible causes most often are diabetes mellitus or other pathologies from the internal organs. The disease in patients who are at the time of its development during the menopause is most often due to a decrease in the level of female sex hormones in the blood, which occurs too sharply. This leads to disruption of metabolic processes in the mucous membrane of the genitals.
Symptoms of Genital Itching
During an external examination of the female genital organs, one can see their redness and swelling. In those cases when the disease lasts a considerable time, there is a constant scratching of the lesion site, as a result of which a large number of abrasions and cracks form here. Sometimes quite extensive ulcerative defects can even be detected. In the future, in places of such mechanical injuries, an infectious lesion may appear, as a result of which vulvitis or vulvovaginitis join the underlying disease as a complication.
Diagnosis of Genital Itching
The diagnosis in the clinic can be quite simple to make when the patient is questioned, as well as during her examination. In the early stages of the development of the disease on the skin in the area of the external genitalia, many scratches, abrasions can be detected. Dry skin develops in these areas. When vaginal discharge appears, the skin becomes, on the contrary, moist. Its color takes on a slightly whitish hue. When feeling the small and large lips, it turns out that they have a much denser and rougher consistency compared to that which should be observed normally.
Genital Itching Treatment
It is necessary to treat the underlying pathology, which ultimately led to the development of itching. The most difficult to treat is the last form of the disease, the development of which is due to mental factors. Such patients are prescribed psychotherapy, therapeutic hypnosis, sedative and hypnotic drugs. A very important place in the treatment of such patients should be given to the implementation of hygiene measures. A thorough toilet of the external genitalia should be carried out regularly at least 2-3 times a day. For this, a decoction of chamomile is used. Those areas in which the patient experiences constant itching should be regularly lubricated with ointments prepared on the basis of preparations of hormones of the adrenal cortex. All these measures are used in combination with ultrasound therapy courses.
Sometimes with persistent painful itching, you have to resort to chipping the lesion with anesthetic solutions. This is only a temporary measure, but it is capable of facilitating the patient’s life and sleep for some period of time. With a particularly severe and unbearable course of pathology, a surgical operation is indicated, during which excision of the genital nerves or their individual trunks is performed.
Forecast
It is determined by the type of disease, its prescription, the timeliness of diagnosis and the start of therapy. In most cases, it is quite favorable.