Vaginismus, dilators, and Lidocaine

A 09/09/2020 updated version of this post is available here.

Women with vaginismus will often try vaginal dilators for self-cure. While this is a good first step, not all women are successful, and many won’t even be able to use the littlest of the set as they are just too scared to insert anything into their vagina or are so terrified of the pain they feel when they try.

The most common instruction given for the ‘pain’ is to apply Lidocaine, a numbing preparation, to the tip of the dilator to neutralize the adverse sensation upon insertion.

That sounds like a good idea, right? Only if your vaginismus is marginal, and only if all you need is just this little ‘assist’ to cross over to a cure.

In all other cases, the vaginal panic will remain. The struggle with the dilators will continue, a dependency on ‘being numb for penetration’ will develop, and the cure will slip away.

A better solution is to seek professional intervention before the vaginismus gets even more complicated.