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Hi Aunt Vadge,
I’m 33 years old. I masturbate a lot and I’m afraid I might have damaged my clitoral hood. The left part of it does not look perfect, and there are cut-like shapes to it, if that makes any sense. There are fissures on the left part of my hood.
I masturbate 1–3 times a month, each time sometimes more than once. I don’t touch my clitoral hood directly with my fingers, usually over my underwear or my base layer. Maybe the fabric is too rough for my skin.
I think the fissures were there before but didn’t seem important, like a line, but this last time they seem to have got a bit wider and feel uncomfortable. It does not bleed, it’s more sore, and I can feel it, but when I saw the lines and the tiny split I got scared.
I’m freaking out. I put coconut oil on it, but is this going to heal or not? I’m afraid if I masturbate again, in time, some part of the hood might come off or lose its shape. Please help me.
Thank you so much.
Divoted
Hi Divoted,
Let’s take that panic down a notch, because what you’re describing is very unlikely to be permanent damage.
First, the numbers: masturbating two or three times a month, sometimes twice in a day, is not ‘a lot’ by any measure. That’s ordinary, and nowhere near enough friction to wear your hood away. So you can let go of the fear that a piece of it will come off or lose its shape – that simply isn’t how vulval skin behaves.
Small fissures or split-like lines on the clitoral hood, especially through fabric, are most often simple friction irritation or a contact reaction – your laundry detergent, a rough base layer, or a bit of dryness making the skin crack where it’s rubbed. The fact that you mostly do it through clothing points that way.
A few other things can cause fissuring, worth knowing about rather than fearing:
- allergic contact dermatitis from detergent, soap or fabric
- dryness from lower oestrogen, which makes skin less stretchy and quicker to split (atrophic vaginitis)
- a yeast or other infection
- less commonly, a skin condition like lichen sclerosus, which tends to cause recurring cracks and pale, fragile patches in the same spot
In my experience, the fissures worth a doctor’s eyes are the ones that keep coming back in the exact same place, because that pattern is where lichen sclerosus occasionally hides. A one-off split that heals and doesn’t return is almost always just friction. If yours is the recurring type, have a read of this letter on recurrent tears beneath the clitoris as well.
What to do now:
- ease off the friction while it heals – softer fabric, or skin-on-skin rather than through a rough layer
- switch to a fragrance-free laundry detergent and keep soap off the area
- keep using a plain emollient (your coconut oil is fine) to keep the skin supple
- give it a week or two – vulval skin heals fast, much like the inside of your mouth
If it hasn’t healed in a couple of weeks, keeps splitting in the same place, spreads, or the skin starts looking pale, shiny or papery, see a doctor or a vulval or skin clinic for a proper look. That’s the point where a trained eye matters, and you don’t need to have it all worked out first – you can just go and say what you told me.
Your diet is worth a passing thought too – skin needs protein, zinc and vitamin C to knit itself back together, so if you’ve been run down or eating on the run, that can slow healing. Nothing to obsess over, just part of the picture.
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
Write again and let us know how you go.
Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge
