For Salter, the answer was biofeedback, a technique that measures specific body responses, such as heart rate or muscle tension, and relays them back to the user in the form of sounds or lights so the user can become aware of these responses and learn to control them. Biofeedback was first used to treat vulvar vestibulitis in 1995 by Howard Glazer, PhD, a clinical associate professor of psychology in obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell University. Before she tried this treatment, Sontag had consulted 12 New York-area doctors. But only a third to a half of them enjoyed long-term relief, defined as more than four years. And surgery sometimes makes the condition worse.
Many women experience occasional mild flare-ups even after a successful treatment.
Like others with the problem, they hope that the discovery about the defective gene will spur the development of a new treatment and make more doctors aware that vulvar vestibulitis is a disorder that warrants attention. Nev. She also reports for Time magazine and teaches at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. All rights reserved. Email This to a Friend. All rights reserved.