Diseases

Painful or difficult urination. This includes burning on urination. Also known as burning or painful micturition.

Organ or part of body involved: Urinary Bladder
Symptoms and indications: Feeling of pain or burning while passing urine.
Causes and risk factors: Dysuria is most commonly due to bacterial infection of the urinary tract causing inflammation of the bladder (cystitis) or kidney (pyelonephritis).

In women, dysuria may also reflect inflammation of the vagina (vaginitis) or vulva (vulvitis). And in men, dysuria may be due to inflammation of the prostate (prostatitis) or the urethra (urethritis) from gonorrhea or chlamydia.

There are many other causes of dysuria including irritation from chemicals in soaps, bubble baths, spermicides, and douches.
Prevention: To help prevent dysuria caused by cystitis or pyelonephritis, you can drink several glasses of water each day to flush out your urinary tract. Women should wipe from front to back after having a bowel movement, and urinate after sexual intercourse to flush bacteria from the bladder.

To prevent dysuria caused by irritation, women should keep the genital area clean and dry, change tampons and sanitary napkins frequently, and avoid using irritating soaps, vaginal sprays and douches. To avoid irritation in female children, limit bubble baths, wash girls thoroughly but gently after playing in sand and be wary of extended play in wet swimsuits, all of which can lead to irritation and redness of the vulva (vulvitis).

To help prevent dysuria caused by sexually transmitted diseases, men and women can avoid sex or have a sexual relationship with one uninfected person. If you have more than one sex partner, or if you think your partner could be infected, use latex condoms during sexual activity.