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Hi Aunt Vadge,
I just got married this past weekend. My husband and I have been together over a year, but we had sex for the first time – five times in the first 24 hours. We then travelled for a day, and when we got to our resort and had sex again it burned and stung very badly going in.
I thought it was normal ‘just starting to have sex’ stuff, so we tried a few more times the next day, but it hurt more. We looked and found a single cream-filled blister at the entrance on one side, and a scrape-looking thing on the other.
Could it be that I had cuts and they got infected in the pool?
Yours,
Ouch
Age 19, USA
Dear Ouch,
It absolutely is ‘just starting to have sex’ stuff – what happened is that you enthusiastically overdid it.
Five times in your first 24 hours, with brand-new tissue that’s never done this before and doesn’t yet know when to call it a day, is a lot of friction on very delicate skin, and the burning, stinging entry plus the scrape on one side are exactly what that does: friction trauma and a graze.
The tissue gets raw, swollen and sore, and every further go on top makes it worse, which is the ‘it just hurt more’ pattern you noticed.
The one thing I do want checked, though, is that blister.
A cream- or fluid-filled blister is usually just a friction blister from all that rubbing, and the pool may well have irritated already-grazed skin – but a fluid-filled blister at the vaginal entrance is also worth having a clinician rule out herpes, because a first outbreak can show up after a burst of new sexual activity and can look similar.
It’s very possibly nothing more than overdone friction, but the way to be sure is a quick look – and a swab of the blister while it’s still there – at a sexual-health clinic or your doctor.
In the meantime, stop having sex and give yourself a proper few days to heal: plain water only (no soaps), pour warm water over yourself as you wee to stop the sting, wear loose cotton, and a cool compress helps.
When you do go back to it, far less often, with lots of lube and plenty of warm-up, and stop the moment anything’s sore. Congratulations, by the way – just pace yourselves; you’ve got the rest of your lives.
Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
