What If Your Pain Isn’t Normal?

If you’ve ever been told your pain is “just part of being a woman”—burning after sex, stinging when you pee, aching in your pelvis—you’re not alone.
Too often, patients walk into medical offices seeking answers and leave with a familiar story:

• Another round of antibiotics
  
  

• Another negative test
  
  

• Another “maybe it’s just stress”
  
  
  

I built VULVAi because this pattern isn’t just frustrating—it’s systemic. And it’s unacceptable.

“I Don’t Know” Is Not a Diagnosis

And “This Is Normal” Is Not a Treatment Plan

For years, I saw patients who had been told the same two things over and over again:

“I don’t know.”
“This is normal.”

But if you're:

• Crying after sex because it burns for hours
  
  

• Missing work because your vulva feels like it’s on fire
  
  

• Using creams, antibiotics, or suppositories that never help
  
  
  

Then that is not normal.

These dismissive answers have become the status quo in a medical system that was never taught how to understand vulvar pain. I started VULVAi because we deserve better.

When the Diagnosis Doesn’t Match the Experience

Many patients come in with:

• Pain during sex
  
  

• Chronic burning or irritation
  
  

• Urinary urgency with negative cultures
  
  

• Discomfort with exercise or clothing
  
  
  

They’re told it’s a UTI, yeast, anxiety, or “just hormones.” But the pain returns—often worse, and often ignored.

What’s usually missed? Vestibulodynia. Lichen sclerosus. Vulvar atrophy. Pelvic floor dysfunction. Vulvar dermatitis. These are real conditions. And they’re often misdiagnosed—or not diagnosed at all.

This isn’t patient failure. This is system failure.

The Real Problem: Medicine Wasn’t Built for Us

As a urologist and sexual health expert, I’ve treated thousands of patients with vulvar and pelvic pain. And the common thread wasn’t their symptoms—it was the delay in diagnosis.

Here’s why:

• Vulvar anatomy is barely covered in medical school
  
  

• The clitoris is missing from many textbooks
  
  

• Residency programs rarely include pelvic pain training
  
  

• Health tech has focused on fertility, not pain

  
  

This isn’t a niche problem. It’s a public health blind spot affecting millions.

So I Built the Tool I Wish Every Patient Had

VULVAi is a digital health platform that does what the medical system too often won’t:

• Listen
  

• Translate your symptoms
  

• Educate you on real diagnoses
  

• Empower you to advocate for better care
  
  

Our AI technology maps your symptoms to clinically-supported conditions and gives you tools to speak clearly to your provider, understand your body, and pursue treatment that actually helps.

Because self-education is self-advocacy. And when you know your body, you stop letting other people define it for you.

You Deserve to Know What’s Really Going On

You deserve to know:

• Why birth control might be causing your pain
  
  

• How to tell the difference between recurrent infection and hormone-driven symptoms
  
  

• What to ask for when a provider dismisses you
  
  
  

Because you are your best advocate—and knowledge is power.

This Is Why I Started VULVAi

• To end the cycle of misdiagnosis and dismissal
  
  

• To give patients real language, real answers, and real hope
  
  

• To change how we talk about vulvar and pelvic pain—forever
  
  
  

Because:

• “I don’t know” is not a diagnosis
  
  

• “This is normal” is not a plan
  
  

• And “normal” shouldn’t hurt