What puts someone at risk for either sensitivity in the first place isn’t totally clear, just as we don’t always know why some people are born with any other kind of allergy. And much like you can develop food or seasonal allergies later in life, it’s possible to become hypersensitive to semen if you once weren’t, or even to experience a reaction when having sex with one partner and not with another, though experts don’t quite know why. Researchers think that certain events involving a hormonal change—like getting an IUD, having a hysterectomy, or going through menopause—might be involved for some.
There’s also some evidence that people with a penis may react to their own semen—a condition called postorgasmic illness syndrome, which involves flu-like symptoms after ejaculation. But a 2023 study found that an allergic response (at least, one including the development of IgE antibodies) is probably not in play here, and psychological factors are more likely the culprit.
How do you know if you have a semen allergy?
Unfortunately, a lot of things can leave your vagina raging, so it’s easy to mistake a semen allergy for something else. The main sign is a painful burning sensation in or around your vagina and vulva that starts during or right after unprotected sex, Dr. Bernstein says. (It can last anywhere from a half hour to several hours.) You should also look out for any of the whole-body allergy symptoms above, like hives, wheezing, and so forth. An important note: You likely won’t experience symptoms of a semen allergy if you wear a condom (and strangely, it’s uncommon to get a rash around your mouth even if you have oral sex). If the pain only shows up when you do use a condom, a latex allergy could be to blame.
Another way to tell is by doing a little process of elimination, Alyssa Dweck, MD, FACOG, a New York–based gynecologist, tells SELF. She usually evaluates her patients for more common causes of vaginal pain first by looking for things like discharge (a symptom of both a yeast infection and bacterial vaginosis, a.k.a. BV) and a fishy or foul odor (typical for BV and some STIs). From there, she’d also ask if they used any new product in that general vicinity—a lubricant, spermicide, douche, wipe, pad, massage oil, or body soap could also be the culprit of an allergic reaction, particularly if it’s scented or dyed in any way, Dr. Dweck adds. If she can rule out all of the above, a semen allergy becomes a more likely trigger to consider, she says.
To officially get a diagnosis, though, you may need to see an allergist, who can do a skin prick test with proteins separated out from your partner’s semen—yes, they’ll need to provide a semen sample for it. (Basically, the doctor will use a tiny needle to introduce a small bit of the substance into your system, and if your skin reacts, it indicates an allergy.) But, as noted above, if you’re one of the folks who experience a localized allergic reaction—your vagina reacts, but nothing else happens—you still might not respond to a skin test, at which point your doctor may also diagnose you by ruling out alternatives.
So what’s the best way to deal with a semen allergy?
The simplest thing you can do? Avoid making contact with the stuff by wearing a condom during sex (and by “during,” we mean for the whole shebang, since precum is a thing). But in some scenarios, that’s not ideal—the most obvious one being if you’re trying to get pregnant, but also just if you can’t (or don’t want to!) use a condom for any reason.
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