What Is Bartholinitis – Causes Symptoms Treatment. In this article, you will read what are Bartholin’s glands, causes of Bartholinitis, symptoms of Bartholinitis, and treatment of Bartholinitis.
What Is Bartholinitis – Causes Symptoms Treatment
What Is Bartholinitis?
A common condition of low severity, the Bartholin’s gland cyst also known as Bartholinitis, can affect all women at some point in their lives. It manifests as pain or a lump at the entrance to the vagina. A simple pelvic examination can confirm this diagnosis. Your gynaecologist can then offer you treatments adapted to the severity of the symptoms and the frequency of the attacks.
What are Bartholin’s glands?
Bartholin’s glands are located on either side or the entrance of the vagina, in the thickness of the labia majora. They provide the lubrication of the vagina and facilitate intercourse by also lubricating the vaginal lips. Secreting a colourless liquid, these glands communicate with the external environment and have ducts liable to become blocked.
Causes Of Bartholinitis:
These glands are normally visible when their ducts are blocked. It can begin to swell and form flexible protuberances of various sizes, called cysts. These cysts are mostly asymptomatic and can form a small periodic painless lump at the entrance to the vagina.
The inflammation of these Bartholin’s gland cysts can be caused by germs of vaginal origin, such as chlamydia or gonococcus, but also of digestive origins, such as enterobacteria or Enterococcus.
Risk Factors of Bartholinitis:
Beyond these causes, there are also different risk factors that will promote the appearance of bartholinitis such as:
-Poor personal hygiene
-Diabetes
-Too frequent sexual intercourse
-Poor episiotomy healing
Symptoms Of Bartholinitis:
These lumps can also become infected and form an extremely painful abscess. It can daily discomfort and disruption of sexual intercourse. This acute crisis called bartholinitis is widespread and can affect all women regardless of age.
The symptoms are:
-Acute inflammation accompanied by vaginal and vulvar pain
-A feeling of warmth in the vagina or vulva
-Difficulty sitting and walking
-Discomfort related to the presence of the cyst
-A purulent discharge after the bursting of the abscess
-Fever, sometimes
There is a huge influence of the hormonal cycle on Bartholinitis. Bartholinitis attacks can be episodic, become chronic, or happen once and never happen again. The causes of these inflammations are unknown, but the size of these cysts generally varies during the hormonal cycle. It is therefore common to see acute attacks of bartholinitis appear 3 or 4 days before the onset of menstruation.
Diagnosis Of Bartholinitis:
To diagnose bartholinitis, the gynaecologist conducts an interrogation and a clinical examination. With the description of the symptoms felt by the patient and the clinical examination, the doctor can assess the visible signs present like redness, swelling, pain on touch, or possible discharge of pus.
Treatment of Bartholinitis:
Mild inflammations can be treated with antibiotics. If the infection does not clear within a week to ten days, the gynaecologist will suggest other options for treatment.
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