Lidocaine for dyspareunia (painful intercourse)

[Debbie L.]

Small but interesting study from OHSU. Full text is available via "patient access" option (free). The full text explains why they think this works, and has many more details.

Debbie Laxague

[AlaskaAngel]

Thanks, Debbie. OHSU does some of the trials that focus on finding the least invasive ways to address problems from the patient's perspective, and this one is encouraging.

What puzzles me is, would vaginal tearing still be occurring as part of the process, and what might that mean in terms of the loss of the tissue barrier each time, and any repeated scarring (if any), despite the use of a lubricant? They reported that there was no sensation of numbness during the use, although lidocaine is a known numbing agent. They don't say whether they asked or noted whether there is postcoital pain once the lidocaine effect wears off, although in general it sounds like the patients were continuing to use it and felt it was helpful.

A.A.

[Debbie L.]

>>What puzzles me is, would vaginal tearing still be occurring as part of the process, and what might that mean in terms of the loss of the tissue barrier each time, and any repeated scarring (if any), despite the use of a lubricant?

I wondered about that (and other things like how did the women enjoy it properly, if they were numb?), too, AA. The full text has more details, including that they looked at tearing/tissue damage, and it was only experienced by one woman who was on high doses of steroids (so they attributed it to that).

Debbie