Itchy crotch! Why can't shops just use actual words?!

[Spinet]

Has anyone found any product that helps with really itchy skin in the crotch area? Presumably due to menopause and it's driving me mad. All the product descriptions most unhelpfully just say 'intimate area' or even 'down there' and then talk about sexual lubrication which I'm not talking about at all! To be precise, the tops of my thighs and external pudenda are horribly itchy and I would love to find a spray that would help if possible (because I don't shave my pubes), but a cream would do. I'm not talking about a dry vulva or vaginal atrophy, though no doubt those delights await me at some point. Thanks in advance!

I have this problem as well and have used E45 itch cream which helped a bit.

Sudocrem can work for me or I use coconut oil as a moisturiser which seems to have helped as well.

@Spinet , welcome to my world! I have had this problem for quite a few years now post-menopause. It also began to develop into swellings and pus-filled boils. I ended up in my local A&E one day and the wonderful doctor suggested that I keep the area moisturised. So now I use Epaderm. I get it on prescription from my GP as my problem has become at times quite acute. My GP advises that I take an antihistamine to control the itching on a need to basis and it does help. To keep the area super clean I rinse my groin area with a capful of TCP diluted in a jug full of warm water after my shower and then moisturised with the Epaderm. I hope this is of some help but would be interested in your comments and feedback,

OK this useful, thanks everyone. Never thought I'd be back to old sudicrem! I would very much like to avoid pus-filled boils I must say. Antihistamine is a good shout. I have been meticulous about washing/drying properly which helps a bit but come bedtime it's unbearable!

I suffered from itch Before I had official menopausal dryness and have not suffered at all since going on estriol cream.
At the time I thought I was sensitive to something in washing powder or shower gel/ even scented loo paper ( actually the whole family were sensitive to that!), however I never managed to pinpoint what it was and it turns out the culprit was hormones, or rather lack of them.

Sorry for a personal question @Wbeezer but do you mean an external itch? I'm currently on HRT gel so might this be an indication that it's not working? Where exactly do you apply estriol (sorry sorry I'm not some kind of menopause vulva troll)?

Oh yes, external itching and skin more delicate so sometimes a bit stingy too, especially if of been scratching.

I apply it with the applicator but there is usually a bit left over on the applicator so I apply that externally or even alternate between internal and external. I'm on patches now so don't apply cream as frequently.

Thank you everyone, this is all great info and nice and non-euphemistic.

Saw the doc about this very thing today. She told me I need to treat my vulva like I would my face! Moisturiser with Epaderm daily, Dermovate in the shower when things kick off, Estriol cream every night. Slap it on!

Estriol externally and all over, Vagifem pessaries internally

Vagisil had lydocaine in it which works for me

Vaginally atrophy😭

So glad to have stumbled across this as thought it was just me with the ITCH - thank you everyone, good reading & solutions that I would never had thought of! 🤗

I take antihistamine tablets.

I also use antihistamine cream and lanacaone which is a cream based anti-itch thing.

Never occurred to me it could be meno - I get really bad reactions to bites so assumed I'd been bitten.

Cold water swimming also helps but possibly a bit much just for itchy skin.

Vagasil

so what about if it is actually the more intimate areas that itch, not the thighs/pubic area? What kind of cream do you use then? Not STi or anything like that, not thrush nor anything internal, just general itchiness in/on and around the inner labia? What is the best thing to use that I can just buy off the shelf in the chemists if possible? Haven't yet got HRT yet but am considering it as various other peri symptoms.

@BlossomToLeaves I use vagisil for the type of itch you’re mentioning, it does the job.

thank you

I've used Betamethasone valerate 0.1% cream when I have a flare up, for years now, with no ill effects. It's a topical corticosteroid so would need to be prescribed (was prescribed by a gynae then taken on by GP).

I use Aveeno the rest of the time or E45.

I think a bit of atrophy/eczema down there is probably very common.

I think dryness and sensitivity on the vulva and labia are common as part of the early stages of vaginal dryness due to menopause - as if the vagina is producing enough moisture to keep itself healthy but not enough is reaching the external parts. I'd say it's worth trying a topical estrogen as it's very low risk and many women really benefit from it. I'd try that before corticosteroids as I have read they can make the problem worse by thinning the skin and making it more vulnerable.

Has anyone else experienced dry skin/ itchy spots down there with this? I went to the doctors a couple of weeks ago and they said it could be a bacterial / fungal infection and to try trimovate cream which I have and it definitely helped improved but when I stopped it gets itchy at night again and starts to look more red again!

https://hydromol.co.uk/products/hydromol-ointment/

Can use as a moisturiser/ wash/ my GP actually prescribed it for me.
I use as all 3.. a barrier too.

I used vagisil until I started HRT then I got a local oestrogen cream prescribed (insert internally with applicator 2-3 times a week) and that has banished it and the other issues I had in that area (watery discharge - perhaps over compensating for dryness - causing a feeling of general dampness which I believe contributed to the irritation/itching)

GP prescribed a steroid cream which worked wonders. I use it as hoc whenever the itch returns; one application works for a couple of weeks.

Coconut oil works a treat.