Caring for your vulva after treatment for vulval cancer

Your vulval area will be more sensitive after treatment for vulval cancer. This includes surgery and radiotherapy.

Your doctor or clinical nurse specialist will tell you how to look after your vulval area during and after treatment. It's important you follow their advice. 

How to clean and dry your vulva

Depending on the type of treatment you have had, it can take a few weeks for your vulval area to completely heal. And even after it has healed it may feel different, for example it may feel sensitive when you touch it.

It is important to keep this area clean. You can use either aqueous cream or emulsifying ointment instead of soap. Both of these are available cheaply in large tubs from any chemist’s shop.

Apply a small amount of the cream with warm water to your vulva and rinse with clean water. Use tissue, a clean hand or soft gauze swabs to put the cream on and wipe off. Ordinary flannels might feel scratchy.

If you’ve had treatment for VIN (vulval intraepithelial neoplasia) in the skin near the back passage (anus), you can use either one of these creams on a bit of toilet paper to clean after you’ve had a poo. It cleans well and stops the toilet paper from feeling scratchy.

Towels can be scratchy too. You can dab very gently to dry it, using the softest towel or other material you can find. Old torn up sheets are useful for this. Used cotton is often very soft. Some women prefer to use a hairdryer set on cool to dry sensitive skin. Keep the hairdryer well away from the area so you don’t get a blast of air.

Products to avoid

The vulval skin is very sensitive and can react to soaps, moisturisers, washing powder and other chemicals. After treatment, the area will be even more sensitive.

You should try to avoid anything that can cause irritation if you’ve had VIN, are prone to vulval skin conditions, or if you’ve had vulval cancer treatment. 

Things that can cause irritation include:

• soap (this is very drying to delicate skin)
• perfumes
• regular moisturisers (apart from aqueous cream or emulsifying ointments)
• wipes such as baby wipes
• shampoo
• feminine hygiene sprays or deodorants
• biological washing powder

If you have had radiotherapy your team may give you specific advice about how to care for your skin during and after treatment.

Underwear and clothes

It is best to wear only loose fitting cotton underwear. Synthetic fibres can cause irritation and don’t let the skin breathe. If the seam on your knicker gusset is in an awkward place and rubs, it may help to wear them inside out.

Some women prefer not to wear any pants at all, particularly when recovering from surgery, or if the area is sore during and after radiotherapy. 

Stockings are healthier than tights because they allow air to circulate. But if you do wear tights, you can cut the gusset out. There are tights available to buy that have no gusset – they are a bit like stockings but don’t need a suspender belt.

You should avoid hold-up type stockings if you’ve had surgery or radiotherapy to the lymph nodes in your groin. These products stay up with quite strong elastic around your upper thigh. 

Wash your underclothes and tights separately from your main wash in soap flakes or non-bio washing powder. Rinse very thoroughly, this might lower the chance of causing irritation to the vulval area.

You’ll probably find that you are more comfortable in skirts, rather than trousers. If you do wear trousers, make sure they aren’t too tight. Avoiding tight clothing such as cycling shorts or leggings may also help.