Woman diagnosed with rare skin condition and vulval cancer at same time after doctors missed signs multiple times
After suffering several symptoms in her intimate region, a British woman claims she was ceaselessly misdiagnosed by medics.
Doctors were convinced for several years that Clare Baumhauer was simply battling a case of recurring thrush, possibly paired at times with cystitis - a common type of bladder infection, or UTI.
It wasn't until she fought for further medical investigation that the truth emerged - as well as being diagnosed with a largely-unknown yet bitterly painful skin condition, Clare was diagnosed with vulval cancer.
Recalling her experience recently in conversation with the British Skin Foundation, she says she began suffering with the initial symptoms of her condition in her childhood years, revealing she was regularly booked in for doctor's appointments.
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She was informed time and time again that her diagnosis was common - a yeast infection, caused by the fungus Candida living naturally inside of the body.
"Sadly nobody noticed there was a difference between my symptoms – itching, burning and white silvery patches - and thrush or cystitis," she recalled, adding that she also found it painful to pee as a youngster.
"I would cry myself to sleep at night because the itching was so intense sometimes," she continued. "This condition has stopped me from doing so much, just walking and sitting some days was unbearable."
By the time she'd reached her 30s, Clare had grown tired of feeling as though she'd been misdiagnosed, and pushed to undergo further blood tests. During these procedures, she was warned it could be early menopause - though, she had a feeling this estimation was also wrong.
It was also around this time that she noticed a tear in her genitalia 'in the same area that happens when you have a baby', which started to get bigger in 2016, becoming raised 'like an ulcer'.
After getting the lump checked out, she was dealt the devastating blow of a vulval cancer diagnosis.
Close inspection of the area also gave her answers on the uncomfortable itchiness she'd battled since her childhood - a condition known as lichen sclerosus.
According to the Royal Women's Hospital in Australia, this painful condition - which affects around four out of 100 women - causes the skin in a woman's nether-regions to appear white, thickened and crinkly.
The condition - which can happen at any age, but it more common in middle aged and elderly women - also makes this sensitive area of the body susceptible to permanent scarring.
Following the double-whammy diagnosis, Clare underwent surgery to have the tumour removed from her vulva before also having radiotherapy.
Sadly, however, by the time the conditions were picked up by a medic, the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, meaning Clare would need two further operations and further radiotherapy - both of which she says 'put her straight into the menopause'.
"I'm very angry that the lichen sclerosus was missed for so long," she recently admitted. "If it had been caught five years ago or more, it might not have turned into cancer as there's only a small chance of that happening with vulval lichen sclerosus.
"If there was more awareness of the symptoms both within the medical community and for the public, things could have been so different."
Topics: Health, Life, Women's Health, Cancer
Rhianna Benson