I'm 33 years old now, and should I go sans Vaseline, I still experience an intense, burning sensation every time I go swimming, and it's always worse in the sea. My parents took me to our family doctor when I was a baby, and I've seen various doctors myself recently. No one can diagnose it past a sensitivity issue (I do have ridiculously sensitive skin), and since it hasn't lead to problems in any other aspect of my life, I'm not too bothered.
I'm relating all this for the benefit of all the wonderful, and concerned mothers; while not one myself, I cannot express how glad I am that despite their concerns, my parents didn't take the beach, and swimming away from me. I truly love the water, especially as a child, and cannot imagine a week going by without a visit.
I hope I helped in a small, smaaalllllll way.
hi my name is Elena and my daughter (9 years old) has the same problem. and I'm exhausted because she doesn't want to go to the sea and we live by the beach. I'm relieved that my daughter isn't the only one out there having this issue!
Just came across this when I googled virginal pain from swimming in the sea. Many Yrs ago I developed cystitis type burning after being in the Mediterranean. Was really painful but eventually went away with cream. I’m just home from a holiday last week and the same thing happened and again I was fine until going in the sea. I personally think it’s a bacterial issue from the sea as it does t happen in swimming pools
If the girls want to go and enjoy the beach then the parents needs to help find a solution and sometimes that means going to the doctors. Its healthy and normal to get things checked out by medical professionals and its good for any parent to normalise getting help when its needed so that the kids don't leave things to worsen when they're older .... its not shameful and its only dodgy people like you who are acting as if medical help is traumatic or problematic
I had the same issue when I was a child! Horrible pain the second my vaginal area came in contact with sea water. Some time during puberty it went away! I’ve read this is sometimes called vulvovaginitis and it resolves with puberty! It did for me thank goodness.
Please see my reply below - I had the same issue all growing up. It was so painful. It went away with the onset of puberty! Google vulvovaginitis!
Hello
My daughter is 8.5 years old. 1 year ago we were on a summer holiday in Greece and she started complaining of this intense burning sensation in the sea water. We had to run to the nearest showers fo shower which was the only thing to relieve her. Doesn’t happen in pools and never happened before this age and she used to swim from 2 years old with no problem. 1 year later and she is still having this issue. What does seem to help a little is a “intimate wash” for girls, you use it in the shower and wash their vagina with it and it regulates the ph imbalance. we used it for a week, it didn’t make the problem go away but she did say the burning was less which makes me think it’s a pH thing. I hope this doesn’t last for too many years and resolves itself
Have you found a solution? My daughter (7) has experienced this the last couple of years and now that we are at the start of the beach/boat season she’s complaining of it again. Trying to find anything helpful. We’ve tried Aquafor as a barrier, but it hasn’t helped.
I'm trying diaper swimmers to see if I can block the water from her sensitive area
Hello everyone,
My daughter has exactly the same problem.
We've been going to the beach every year since she was born (in Italy, Greece, UK), and she had no problem with the sea water until last year, when she turned 8. After then, she started complaining of her vulva stinging/burning whenever she bathes in the sea. After about 5 minutes that she's in the water, it starts stinging. She says the pain is about 6 out of 10. Once when she peed in the sea(!), she told me that the pee actually temporarily completely removed the discomfort, which makes me think it's a pH problem, but after the pee, the pain was actually worse than before.
I was hoping that it was an isolated incident, but this year it's still happening, and she's 9.
A previous poster said that this disappears with puberty - I would be grateful if they could tell me at about what age we should start to see improvements.
In the meantime, I make sure that there is a swimming pool wherever we go, because swimming pools don't give her any problems at all.
Another thing I was thinking about is - might it be that swimming pools are the culprit? Whenever we go on holiday, there is always a swimming pool, and I was wondering whether the chlorinated water might disrupt something in the intimate parts, so that once my daughter goes in the sea, her vagina burns? It would be interesting to know from the previous posters whether also their children alternate swimming pools and sea.
Well, thank you for reading, and I would be grateful for any advice/solution. My daughter loves the sea, watching the fish, and she's really upset she can't swim in it.
Did that work?
I have the exact same. I'm 18 and my vagina has been hurting whenever I swim in the ocean since I was seven years old. My gyno doesn't know what it is and to this day and no one has any idea what it is.
Having the same issues and it’s so fustrating I want her to enjoy swimming! Have you found any remedies ???