Aunt Vadge: strange divot in clitoral hood

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 (2 times that day). 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 seem to get bit wider and feels uncomfortable. It does not bleed, its more sore, and I can feel it, but when I saw the lines and the tiny split on the clitoral hood I got scared.

I’m freaking out. I put coconut oil on it, but is this going to heal or not? Because 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,

Thanks for your great picture!

First of all, just so we’re clear, masturbating two or three times per month, and once or twice per day on those days, would definitely not be considered ‘masturbating a lot’. That would probably be about normal for many women, though obviously masturbating habits vary considerably.

Based on this, it seems very unlikely that you have damaged yourself masturbating unless you were very vigorous and a nail got caught or something else, however you mention that you most often do it through clothing or underwear.

Fabric may have scratched you, but cuts are pretty obvious, usually immediately after they happen – sometimes you don’t notice them at the time because you’re having a good time, but after the fun stops, the pain usually starts.

Some options:

• You are allergic to your laundry detergent and it has caused drying and cracking of your clitoral hood after pushing on it during masturbating (allergic contact dermatitis).
• You may have the strange beginnings of a systemic condition that is manifesting in your skin – get checked.
• You may be suffering from a nutrient deficiency. If you have not been eating properly (probably for quite a while), are underweight, overweight, or otherwise not the ideal citizen for diet, you may need to visit a nutritionist to have your diet reviewed. Poor diet can affect your skin, for example slow wound healing.
• You may have a hormonal disturbances (low oestrogen in particular). Low oestrogen manifests in the skin through the loss of elasticity and strength, allowing easy breakages and fissuring (atrophic vaginitis).
• You may have an infection – yeast, maybe, another fungus – get checked.

There are a few reasons why you may have unexplained or unusual clitoral hood fissures, some of them not serious (just a simple cut), but some can be a sign of deeper troubles originating far from your vagina. These can include autoimmune conditions (lichenoid conditions and others) which can cause strange things to happen to your skin, but might be something like a nutrient deficiency.

Nutrients

The stuff that keeps your skin together, like vitamin C, zinc, and protein, among many others, may be lacking somewhat. How’s your diet? If you eat a balanced and nutritious diet full of protein, vegetables, nuts, legumes, seeds, and fruit and understand how to eat properly, then you are probably doing ok, but it’s worth looking at when things ‘mysteriously’ start to go wrong.

The skin can start to fall apart if something is missing that it needs to hold itself together. It isn’t magic. You would probably notice it other areas of your body, so take stock of what else is happening – what other symptoms are you experiencing? Do you have cuts other places? Dry skin? Feeling tired? Run down? Think about your whole health.

What to do next

Coconut oil should help to keep it lubricated, but keep an eye on it over the next few days, and see what happens. Vaginal and vulvar tissue tends to heal very quickly (like your mouth), but cuts that don’t heal or seem unusual need a trained medical eye to look them over and see if there is something else going on.

It would be advisable to go and get checked out by a physician and get a diagnosis. You need to investigate all your options thoroughly.

Write again when you get more information if you don’t get an answer (or you do! – we’d love to hear from you either way).

Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge