Pure Versus Complicated Vulvar Vestibulitis: a Randomized Trial of Fluconazole Treatment

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a 6-month treatment consisting of a weekly oral dose of 150 mg fluconazole for women with vestibulitis, and to explore the causes of treatment failure.

Methods: Forty women with vestibulitis were randomized to either of two treatment groups. One group received a 6-month low oxalate diet with calcium citrate complement, as a placebo, and the second group the same diet and calcium citrate with the addition of a weekly oral tablet of 150 mg fluconazole. The women were examined 3 months after completing treatment, for response to therapy.

Results: The addition of intensive 6-month fluconazole treatment did not lead to an outcome better than that attained by maintaining a low oxalate diet with calcium citrate supplementation. The satisfactory response rate was 15 and 30%, respectively. The presence of 'complicated vestibulitis', candidiasis concomitant with vestibulitis, decreases the satisfactory response rate regardless of the type of treatment administered (odds ratio 19.9, 95% CI 1.6, 250).

Conclusion: Prolonged oral fluconazole is an ineffective treatment of vestibulitis, whether pure or complicated by concomitant vulvovaginal candidiasis. The coexistence of candidiasis and vestibulitis - complicated vestibulitis - might represent a subset of vestibulitis that is resistant to the currently available medical therapy.