Welcome to the VPS, a UK registered charity.

Our aims are:

  • To promote and protect the physical and mental health of sufferers of vulval pain through the provision of support, education and practical advice

  • To advance the education of the general public in all areas relating to vulval pain

We offer advice and information on all vulval pain matters. You can read detailed information about vulvodynia, vestibulodynia (previously known as vulval vestibulitis), lichen sclerosus, and other vulval pain conditions. We also have information on sex and vulval pain, pregnancy and vulval pain, and other general good advice. Find out more about us.

2015 British Society for the Study of Vulval Disease Annual Meeting

The 2015 British Society for the Study of Vulval Disease Annual Meeting dates have now been confirmed and the registration site is live! The date of the meeting is Thursday 12 March 2015 and the location will be St Anne's College, Oxford.

Please note that this will be a one-day meeting. The venue has been confirmed and the agenda can be found on the event site at BSSVD 2015. All sponsors are invited to contact the organisers at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Listen to 'Airing Pain: The power of the mind' podcast

UK pain charity Pain Concern produce Airing Pain, a series of audio podcasts dealing wtih different aspects of pain from both the patient's and the health professional's perspectives. Listen to Programme 47: The power of the mind, which looks at new techniques using both the brain and the mind to control pain. You might also be interested in the many other programmes available in the series. All the podcasts can be played online, or downloaded from the site for later use. Transcripts are available for some of the programmes as well. Happy listening!  

UPDATE: Liverpool University vulval pain study

We are pleased to be able to report that this study, 'Vulval pain: the journey to diagnosis', which explores women's psychological journey from first symptoms of vulval pain to a formal diagnosis, has had sufficient participant response for analysis and is therefore now closed. Further news and updates on the work will be posted here and on our Older studies page once these are available.

UPDATE: Coventry University unprovoked vulvodynia study

Please note that this online study, which examines UK patients' experiences of accessing treatment for unprovoked vulvodynia, has finished data collection and analysis and is therefore now closed. We will provide details of the results of the study here and on our Older studies page as soon as these are available. 

UPDATE: Southampton University vulvodynia study

The Southampton University study exploring the experience of vulval pain for UK women and their partners is now closed to new participants.

The results of the study are currently being written up, and a summary of the findings will be posted here as soon as this becomes available - so do watch this space.

Painful Sex vs 'Normal' Sex: The Differences Explained With Food

Women4Real have recently released a short video which was made to raise awareness of vulvodynia and painful sex. The video has been made independently of the Vulval Pain Society (VPS) by Sally Turner and Sabine Tyrvainen, who run Women4Real.

You can view Women4Real's film on YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKbaNPGIamQ

Read more: Painful Sex vs 'Normal' Sex: The Differences Explained With Food