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Hey Aunt Vadge,
Recently over the weekend (today is Wednesday), I was with my girlfriend, doing oral activities. It didn’t hurt in the moment, but later, when I was home, I noticed it was sore there.
A day or two later I realised the ‘soreness’ was still there, so I explored with a mirror and noticed a cut or small scrape right next to my clitoris. This might be a minor problem, but I’m still worried about what I should do while it heals, or whether it ever will.
Sincerely,
Nervous
Dear Nervous,
It will heal, and quickly, so you can let go of that worry. A cut on the clitoris, or right beside it like yours, feels alarming and tender out of all proportion to its size, but a small scrape like this is very minor.
Genital skin is some of the fastest-healing tissue you have, a bit like the inside of your mouth. The cells turn over rapidly, so little cuts and scratches usually close over in a few days and rarely leave any mark. A long, enthusiastic oral session, especially if things got a bit dry, can cause exactly this kind of friction graze – a small cut on the clitoris or right beside it – and it’s nothing to do with anything being wrong with you.
So you don’t need to do much at all. Keep the area clean with plain warm water only – no soap, no antiseptic creams, no tea-tree or anything ‘cleansing’, as those just sting and slow things down. Pat dry, wear loose cotton underwear (or none) to let it breathe, and give that spot a few days off from oral and friction. When you’re back to it, plenty of lube or saliva keeps everything sliding rather than dragging, which is how most of these little grazes happen in the first place. Our guides on looking after minor vulvar cuts and treating a simple tear have the full run-down.
Most likely you’ll have forgotten all about it within the week. Do get it checked by a doctor, though, if it hasn’t healed in a couple of weeks, the redness spreads, it weeps pus or smells off, the pain ramps up rather than down, you run a fever, or you find yourself getting little cuts there again and again. Repeated splitting in the same spot can point to a skin condition or a low-grade infection worth looking into, and our piece on whether a vulvar tear might get infected walks through the warning signs. That kind of close look is a hands-on exam we don’t do here, so a GP is your best port of call for it.
For now, be gentle with yourself and let it mend. It will.
For soothing and healing minor cuts and tears, here’s how to deal with cuts and tears from fingering and rough sex.
Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
