anyone had a vulval biopsy? Really scared

[kjd]

Hi

I suffer with vulvodyina and my doctor has decided he wants to do a vulval biopsy under local anesthetic. I didnt really say anything to him but when I got home I realised I was really nervous and dont know what to expect.

can anyone please give me some advise as I am in tears here and so terrified.

thanks all x

[jen74]

I had 4 biopsies taken of my vulva. They did it while I was sedated though after they did my cystoscopy. I believe they will give you a shot to numb you and you wont feel a thing. As far as afterwards, it is not so bad. It just will be sore down there for a few days.
Jen

[kjd]

did he leave a huge hole? Dont mean to sound so horrible but I dont have a clue how much skin they will take from me.
How much did they take from you and how long did it take to heal?

sorry to ask so many questions but getting my self so upset and worried I will scare down there and leave me with a huge hole which my boyfriend will find disgusting.

thanks so much

[ihurttoo]

I have had vulvur biopsies too. Mine were done during my vulvar vestibulectomy. I am not sure what size sample they biopsied, since I had several places removed during the surgery. But, I also had several stitches down there, so there were no gaping holes or anything. The stitches disolved in a few weeks, and you'd never notice those places.

My surgery was done under general anesthesia. So, I cant tell you really much about how it would go under local. But, I have had a lump removed from my breast and they just used local for that. I was seriously worked up before that, and terrified, but it truly wasnt bad at all. Hopefully, the biopsy will be the same for you.

I wish I could be of more help. Hopefully, someone that has had it done under local will write and tell you about her experiance.

Hope things go well for you!

Hugs,
Amy

[kjd]

Oh god now I am worried! Well he said he wanted to do it as I have a lot of itching....is a biopsy the norm???

I am so scared and worried and dont know what to do. The doctor didnt give me any info so I assumed it wasnt a big deal at all. When you say you feel is during sex what do you mean? Do you mean you can feel the scar and that it causes pain?

Was it a huge cut? I guess they would be looking for any skin allergies etc for me?

anybody have any good experiences or not too bad?
x

[Zygala87]

I don't understand. Why does a Doctor do a biopsy. Are they looking for cancer? If we for sure have IC they must know what is wrong already. I know there is much I have to learn. Kjd if you decide not to have this done maybe you could ask the Doctor if there is another test as this is not something you are comfortable about at all. I always let my Doctors think I am cooperating with them but in the end I decide what will be done to my body. It's mine. Wishing you the best. Ziggy

[kjd]

Hi Ziggy
My doc said it was just to check for allagies and skin problems. Didnt say anything about cancer.

What do you suffer with Ziggy? do you have vuvodyina? Have you had a biopsy.

thanks for all your help and support ladies
x

[turnaround]

Hi-I had a vuval biopsy done on three places. It was done under a local. Not going to lie to you, the shot did sting, but it wasn't unbearable. She took a little scrape from three areas. She gave me a salve to put on afterwards. It was definitely sore, but no holes, just like scrapes.

I got mine done to rule out vulvar cancer. It turned out I have Lichens Sclederma, yet another auto-immune disease.

I figure I'd rather have biopsies and be safe.

It hurt, but no worse than anything else we have to go through. Next time I would have taken a pain pill first, and an ibprophen right after to minimize swelling.
Good luck!

[ihurttoo]

My Dr. told me the biopsy was to check for cancer. I dont know if they checked for other things too or not. But, in my case, they were already removing the tissue, so it wasnt a big deal to go ahead and send it to pathology.

[kadi]

Mine was not a big deal. Not fun & a little sore for a few days, but no big deal.
No anesthetic, like a small hole punch of my skin. She said it was to check for lichen sclerosis. (which I didn't have)

Frankly, I think the doctor did it to collect a $150 "surgery" fee. She didn't take insurance, so I had to pay the whole thing on top of the office visit fee, which was several hundred dollars. I went to see my regular gynecologist 2 days later & she said she had no idea why that doctor did it.

I'm a big fan now of second opinions...

[icbop]

I had he dcone done about three weeks ago, but I was under general anesthesia and since Iw as going to be under general anyway, he did a cysto/hydro. Like others, all it showed was inflammation -- duh!

But, I was glad there was no cancer.

As far as the healing goes, the biospy part was not bad (the cysto on the other hand, I would never repeat).

I did have a stitch or two but I already can not feel where is was, except for an occasional deep itch where it's still probably healing a bit.

I took nothing but ibuprofin and prosed afterwards, and I still was able to care for my 18 mont old little guy the next day.

As far as local v general my doctor asked me if I thought I could handle doing it while awake, given how much inflammation I had. I said I did not think I could do it, and he respected that. One reason he wanted to do a local though, was that there was no issues with scheduling as it could be done in-office. I figured I'd rather wait. After all, I've lived with this pain for years.

On another note, I'm flying to NYC to see Dr. Glazer and a Dr. Ledger. My ins. will only cover 70%, but at this point I'm willing to fly wherever and put the rest on cc. Evidently, Dr. Ledger has seen that a lot of women with VV (which for me is just an extension of the IC that is only manifested by urethral pain) have a genetic variation that either causes inflammation or makes it difficult to treat.

Of course, even if I find out I HAVE this variant, I'm not sure what they will do. I'll post about the experience though. I hope at least that the biofeedback helps me copre with the pain.

[kjd]

what are the symtoms of vulval cancer? My doctor didnt mention this.

If steriod creams help me does that mean that is more than likely to be a skin problem?
My doctor didnt say anything about taking a scrape but an actual punch biopsy which leaves you with a hole the size of a pea.

Ouch x

[kjd]

Hi Briza

thanks for sharing your storey and I must say it sounds terrible. Well I totally agree with you. Any other doctor I have mentioned about biopsys have looked at me as if I was crazy and others have told me its not necessary as vulval cancer under the age of 40 is practically none existant (I'm 24) so guess I have mixed feelings bout this.

thanks again x

[humpieumpumkin]

My mom had one, local only. She said that the novacane stung(about 3 on pain scale) but not bad. After that she didn't feel a thing. She said a pap was worse. She had 1 stitch and it dissolved in a little over a week. She had no pain after, although some mild itching(she thinks it was due to the healing process.) Her insurace completely covered it. She does not have IC though, but has terrible endometriosis class 4 or something, I don;t know exactly since I dont have it myself. You will be fine!!!

Erika

[icbop]

I don't know the symptoms, but it is VERY rare and quite treatable. [I] do think you'd see it


I think I had a punch too--but as I said, I can no longer be sure where it was, so he mst have stitched me up quite competently.

I think with a biospy they check for lichen sclerosis, lichen planus, bacteria, and yeast. Evidently some people can have yeast that can sort of hide under the skin and one needs to biopsy for it to see if it grows.

It was very scary for me to do this too -- hence the need for general anesthesia. My doctor said "if you are going to crwal up the table" because of the pain I was in bc I was so inflamed, "we should not do it while you are awake."

You may wish to think about having general anesthesia if you are sscared. Or, if steroid creams really help you a lot (they don't help me much) you may decide it's not worth it for you to do this. My nurse practitioner who works with the doctor thought it would be wise to wait until after 2 months of steroid cream, to see if it helped. I did not want to do this, as I thought they might be able to have a better dea of what was going on if they saw it in its flared condition.

Now, of course, I wish I had waited, but not bc of the pain. It is just that its frustrating to be told that all they could see was inflammation. That was visible to the naked eye! I wish they could know a little more about what one can do about the inflammation.

Best of luck to you!

Best of luck!

what are the symtoms of vulval cancer? My doctor didnt mention this.

If steriod creams help me does that mean that is more than likely to be a skin problem?
My doctor didnt say anything about taking a scrape but an actual punch biopsy which leaves you with a hole the size of a pea.

Ouch x