Most of the 400-plus survey respondents in the study said a clinician had, at some point, waved off their burning, itching, or raw pelvic pain as “normal,” “post-baby,” or “stress.” Twenty-six percent described outright belittlement; one in five admitted they’d considered abandoning medical care altogether after the encounter. 

Why does dismissal land so hard? Because vulvovaginal disorders already hit the psyche in stealth mode. Chronic pain rewires threat pathways; add a white-coat eye-roll and you get a textbook trauma loop. The data show spikes in anxiety and depression scores that mirror those seen after orthopedic injury—except no one hands these patients a recovery timeline. 

At THRĒ we engineered the opposite experience. Every vaginitis visit books a full 30-minute slot. We run high-resolution microscopy in-house, use PCR when cultures are too blunt, and layer microbiome rebuilds with partner strategies so the problem actually ends—not just pauses with an azole. Most important, we let patients finish sentences. Listening is a procedure; it just isn’t bill-able anywhere else. 

If you’ve been told to “wait it out,” start a symptom diary tonight, bring photos if you can, and ask outright for a culture or vaginitis PCR. And remember: you can switch doctors faster than you can switch microbiomes. Your body isn’t optional—and the care shouldn’t be either.