Scarleteen

im 18 now and ive been masturbating since i was maybe 15 and a half. my masturbation is mostly via the clitoris. a couple of months ago i noticed that the side i usually masturbate from is swollen and so is the labia minora on that side. while it was a little sore, i left it alone for a few weeks. there is no discomfort or pain or soreness or anything but the right labia minora and the right side of my clitoral hood is swollen. the gynecologist didnt really mention it when i told her and i assumed it was because vulvas come in all shapes and sizes and she must have just assumed thats how mine looked. she said i had very mild folliculitis but she didnt really mention the swollen part. to be honest, im not even sure mine was ever different and maybe i just started noticing it now.
i masturbated again a while ago and now i think it swelled up even more. again, i dont know for sure and there isnt any pain or discomfort or anything. it just a little more swollen on the side i masturbate.
is this something i need to be worried about? am i freaking out about nothing? is there a chance that it was always like this but i never really paid attention? this is causing me self esteem issues. should i stop masturbating for a while?

Welcome to the boards, kira

Did the doctor look at your genitals? If they looked and were not concerned, then this is unlikely to be a health issue, especially as you aren't reporting pain or discomfort.

It's very common for one side of the labia to look a little different to the other - to be a bit bigger or smaller, or to have a slightly different shape. That's very much like most people's feet and breasts are usually a slightly different size. If you didn't pay a lot of attention to how your genitals looked before you started masturbating, then yes, it's possible that this is how they looked, and you're only noticing in detail now you're thinking a lot about it. Too, bodies continue developing throughout our teens and early twenties, and nobody's body develops completely symmetrically; so, it's very possible - and very common! - that one side of your labia has grown a little more than the other during this time. That would have nothing to do with masturbating or not masturbating, it's simply your body being your body.

Are you noticing that your labia and genitals seem bigger for an hour or so after masturbating? If you are, then what you're probably noticing is vasocengestion: during sexual arousal, more blood flows into the genital tissues, and causes temporary enlargement.

If masturbation isn't causing you any pain or discomfort, there's no medical need for you to stop. It was sensible of you not to masturbate while your genitals felt a little sore, just like it's a good idea to give the body a chance to recover from any kind of pain or discomfort.

For sure, people can have very big feelings about how our bodies look, especially with something as personal as genitals. I'm sorry to hear you're having some self-esteem issues around this. Do you feel like you have a good sense of what a wide variation there is in what vulvas can look like? Many women, especially, really don't, and that can lead to people feeling like their body isn't okay when it really, really is. We do have a series of photographs on the site of some people's vulvas and how they feel about them, and I wonder if it would help you to see those?

Hi! Thanks for you reply and sorry its been so long!
The swelling didnt increase or decrease and im a fairly regular masturbator.
The problem isnt the labia, its the clitoral hood. I use my right hand and the usually stimulate the right side of the clitoral hood and i think ive done it so much that its perpetually inflamed/swollen/kind of bigger/what have you. Im not as insecure about it as i was before but its still a bit of a worry if the masturbation did this or if i was always like it. Its like two extra folds which are swollen right by the right side clitoris which you have move aside a bit to see the clit. Does that make sense? It kind of makes it seem like my clit is not dead center but more to the left because the right side of the hood looks swollen. The doctor did see my gentials and i showed her the part i was worried about but she shrugged it off and said it was a mild case of folliculitis. Maybe she was looking at the wrong part? It doesnt hurt or anything, its just that if it is due to masturbation, is there anything i can do to stop it? Seeing as i tend to stimulate over the clitoral hood rather than directly on the clitoris.

It sounds to me like your doctor made a diagnosis with this: all you need to do is whatever they instructed! If that was nothing, then there's nothing you need to do.

Lumps and bumps now and then with genitals are pretty much a given: no need to feel self- conscious, it happens for everyone sometimes!

The doctors appointment was in feb though. Im sorry im being such a bother, its just its the same bump that refuses to leave. :/ its been there since i noticed it last december.
Maybe it was always there and im being a pain about it for nothing? It doesnt hurt or anything so nothing to worry about, right?

Hi Kira,

If this is still worrying you then you can go back to your doctor!