Doctors dismissed my intimate pain and itching as ‘thrush’ for three years – in fact, I was suffering cancer of the vulva. Now my sex life is ruined. These are the symptoms every woman needs to know…

A young woman has shared how symptoms of a rare cancer was dismissed by her GP as thrush. 

Laura Liddle, 31, from Bristol first began experiencing the warning signs of vulval cancer in March 2022 while recovering from surgery to treat an abscess in her groin. 

She noticed a swelling in her left labia – the fleshy outer part of the vulva – that ‘didn’t look right’. 

As it wasn’t painful, Ms Liddle brushed it off as ‘just her anatomy’ – but in January 2025, she was experiencing such extreme pain in her genitals that she was unable to walk around or sleep.

She said: ‘At the beginning of last year I was getting increasingly even more sore, to the point where I couldn’t wear underwear, I couldn’t walk and I couldn’t sleep, I was in agony.’

Ms Liddle added that the sensation was as if she’d ‘been stung with stinging nettles’ between her legs. 

Over the next three months, Ms Liddle made repeated, desperate, visits to her GP who tested her for thrush and STIs, which all came back clear. 

She said: ‘I’ve suffered with thrush my whole life and the doctors kept putting it down to that.’

‘Everything they tested me for – thrush, STIs, you name it – all results said I had a clean bill of health.

‘It was unbearable pain and I couldn’t get rid of it. They [doctors] gave me local anaesthetic gel to numb it, but even that wasn’t helping.’

After being referred to a hospital gynaecology department in April 2025 a biopsy revealed she had stage three vulval intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN). 

The condition occurs when abnormal cells develop in the top layer of skin covering the vulva, and while it can turn into vulvar cancer over a period of many years, not everyone who has it will develop the disease. 

Vulvar cancer uncommon, with only around 1,500 cases diagnosed in the UK each year.

Eighty per cent of those are in women aged over 60, while VIN tends to be seen in those aged 30 to 50.

The HPV vaccine is among the greatest protection available to the disease, as many forms of vulvar cancer are triggered by HPV – the virus that also triggers cervical cancer, and cancers of the anus and penis. 

Another condition linked to vulvar cancer is lichen sclerosus, an inflammatory condition that causes severe itching and discomfort, and white patches to form on the vulva.

The skin might look very smooth, almost shiny, and may even bleed when touched. It can also cause the entrance to the vagina to narrow due to the chronic inflammation triggering the formation of scar tissue.

Aside from the impact on quality of life, one in 20 cases develops into vulval cancer.

When Ms Liddle, who works in hospitality, underwent surgery to have part of her labia removed in July 2025, she received the devastating news that the VIN had developed into vulval cancer.

She then underwent another surgery to remove the lymph nodes in her groin in December 2025 and was declared cancer–free on Christmas Eve.

Doctors told Ms Liddle it will likely affect her sex life, potentially making it more painful and due to loss of sensation it could be harder for her to climax.

Ms Liddle said: ‘[When they told me I had vulval cancer] I was more concerned about how it would affect my family.

‘It’s a very rare cancer and it normally shows up in women over 70. I’m only 31, they’re saying it’s probably down to my immune system and that HPV could be a factor.

‘I do think about it and it does get me down. I’m only 31, I shouldn’t be having this happen to me.

‘I like to work, I like to be busy and the fact I can’t do anything is driving me insane.’

Now healing at home after being declared cancer–free, Ms Liddle is adapting to her new normal. 

She said: ‘Going to the toilet is very painful, it burns, and they’ve said it will affect my sex life.

‘Where they’ve removed skin it can make it a lot narrower so it can make it a lot more painful when you have sex.

‘I could have a loss of sensation and it could be harder for me to climax, but I have no intention of having sex any time soon.’

Miss Liddle has bravely shared her story to encourage women to regularly check themselves and get anything unusual looked at. 

She said: ‘A lot of young girls don’t touch their vaginas, they don’t look at their vaginas, it’s a taboo thing to do.

‘You have to know what it feels like, you have to know what is down there for you to know if something’s not right.

‘If you don’t touch yourself and know what your normal is, how are you going to know what your abnormal is? You could probably save your life.

‘I think it [vulvar cancer symptoms] really needs to be talked about and be advertised everywhere.

‘I think they should be testing you for that when you go for your smear, just checking it looks ok and if it doesn’t, getting a biopsy from the area.

‘It’s not nice having a needle in your vagina, it really hurts, but it’s two minutes of pain for something that’s going to save your life.’