Determining the effects of botulinum toxin A treatment on pain, resting vaginal pressure, and female sexual distress scale among vulvodynia patients

Abstract

Introduction Vulvodynia is a painful and constant vulvar discomfort. This condition is often described as a searing or stinging sensation, with an increased awareness of pain (hyperalgesia) and pain sensitivity (allodynia). Objective To determine the effects of botulinum toxin A treatment on pain, resting vaginal pressure, and female sexual distress scale among vulvodynia patients. Patients and methods A quasi-experimental study was performed on 40 patients with vulvodynia. The assessment was done 3 months after botulinum toxin injection by visual analog scale, vaginal pressure at rest, and female sexual distress scale. Results The findings revealed that the effect of treatment was turned out to be significantly effective (P<0.05) in reducing pain and measured using visual analog scale where the values at baseline were 8.25±3.41, which reduced to 4.37±2.12 after 3 months of intervention. In addition to that female sexual distress scale also shown a significant reduction after 3 months of treatment. The improvement was noticed with a mean difference of mean differnce=8.21±3.58 (P<0.05, 95% confidence interval). Furthermore, it was shown that botulinum toxin A therapy significantly decreased resting vaginal pressure. Conclusion Botulinum toxin type A therapy is a potential alternative for treating female vulvodynia.

Keywords

• botulinum toxins
• pain
• vulvodynia