Bartholin’s Gland Removal Leaves 3-Year Pain and Sensitivity Loss After 5 Surgeries
Updated
Updated · Slate · Jul 8
Bartholin’s Gland Removal Leaves 3-Year Pain and Sensitivity Loss After 5 Surgeries
2 articles · Updated · Slate · Jul 8
Summary
Three years after having her right Bartholin’s gland removed, the letter writer says sex now brings scar sensitivity, painful penetration and orgasms, and a worsening mental-health toll.
Two years of recurring abscess treatment and more than five failed drainage surgeries led to the removal, which stopped the infections but permanently changed lubrication and sensation.
The writer says she and her partner have already tried lubes, positions, toys, foreplay, clitoral focus, and non-penetrative sex, while cost barriers and gynecologists’ advice that “there’s just nothing to do” have left them stuck.
Slate’s advice urges her to treat anger and grief as valid, seek affordable therapy or pelvic-pain support groups, and stop trying to recreate sex exactly as it was before surgery.
The column suggests rebuilding sex around what works now, including possible scar-shielding devices or modified penetration techniques, while acknowledging recovery may depend on acceptance as much as experimentation.