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Hi Aunt Vadge!!
I’ve been with my boyfriend for two years and have only been with him. I recently had a yeast infection and treated it with over-the-counter Canesten. That cleared up, and now I have a bunch of paper-cut-type cuts on the vulva, to the side and right under the vagina.
Could these be herpes? My partner doesn’t appear to have anything going on. I don’t want to have sex because I’m scared, and I feel like more cuts are appearing! They’re soooo itchy (hopefully from healing) and make everything uncomfortable.
Yours,
Uncomfortable
Age 21, Canada
Dear Uncomfortable,
Take a breath, because the picture you paint points away from herpes, not towards it. You’ve been with one partner for two years, he has nothing going on, and what you have are itchy, paper-cut-style splits that turned up after a yeast infection you treated with Canesten.
That’s the signature of yeast, not herpes: herpes shows up as painful little blisters that break into ulcers, usually with a tingling or burning warning beforehand – not as itchy fine fissures. Itchiness plus paper-cut splits is one of the classic, under-recognised faces of a yeast infection, especially one that hasn’t fully cleared.
So the most likely story is that the yeast isn’t actually gone. A single course of Canesten often doesn’t finish the job, particularly with a more stubborn or non-albicans strain, and the fragile, inflamed skin keeps splitting into those little cuts and itching as it tries to heal and re-irritates.
The move is to go back to your doctor, ask them to confirm it’s yeast (a swab can check, and identify the strain if it’s being stubborn), and treat it properly – often a longer course, or an oral antifungal such as fluconazole, clears what a short topical course couldn’t.
In the meantime, be gentle: plain-water washing, no soaps or scented products, loose cotton, and hold off on sex until it’s healed – not because of contagious “bacteria”, but simply because friction on already-split skin makes it worse. This is almost certainly persistent yeast, and it’s very fixable once it’s treated thoroughly.
Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
