A woman ended up in hospital in excruciating pain after sleeping in a pair of ‘granny pants’ she’d worn ‘a hundred times before’. The garment rubbed and left Kaela Tucker, 26, with a cut inside her vagina, which then became infected. Within a matter of days, she had to be rushed to hospital after the initial cut formed a ‘bubble’ cyst.
Kaela was left in extreme pain and needed months of treatment, during which the cyst reopened and became infected once again. Unsurprisingly, the incident has left its mark on Kaela, who has decided to forego her underwear entirely. “I don’t wear underwear at all anymore,” the assistant property manager, from Dallas in Texas, told NeedToKnow. “The only underwear I use since my injury is period underwear, because tampons seem so unsafe after everything [I’ve been through].” Kaela’s ordeal began in March 2024, when she went to sleep in underwear she had worn “100 times before”. When she woke up, she felt pain in her vagina but assumed it would heal on its own. But over the coming days, she experienced an “intense burning” and visited her doctor for some antibiotics. After 48 hours, however, she felt she would “die” if she didn’t go to the hospital. “I couldn’t sit, stand or even lay down,” Kaela recalled. “My only option was to ride to the hospital lying on my left side because it was on the right side of my vagina.”
At the hospital, doctors used an ultrasound wand to confirm that a 4.8cm Bartholin cyst – a fluid-filled blockage in a Bartholin’s gland in the labia – had formed.
Blood work additionally showed she had a ‘raging’ infection as a result. Kaela added: “They were worried I had waited any longer, that I would have gone septic.
“They had me on several different IV antibiotics, hoping that the cyst would burst on its own instead of having to do it surgically. Thankfully, the cyst did burst on its own, but not without excruciating levels of pain.”
She continued: “It was the second night at the hospital that I was practically screaming in pain that not even morphine could cure.
“I have even had two feet reconstructive surgeries that I thought would be the most painful I would ever experience in this lifetime – until I met an infected vaginal cyst.”
It was on the morning of her third day in hospital that Kaela stood up and felt a “massive burst of liquid gushing” down her legs. Her cyst has burst.
“Now I could sit, stand and lay normally. They kept me for two more days until they were happy with my white cell count, indicating that I no longer had an infection,” she said.
But unfortunately for Kaela, her ordeal was far from over. She claims she was sent home with an “open wound”, which became infected and was untreated for months, leaving her feeling “constantly exhausted, frustrated and close to losing my mind”.
She saw a number of OBGYNs who prescribed more antibiotics and yeast-fighting creams – but the open wound continued to get worse.
Three months after the initial incident, she started to feel just as poorly as she had before and went back to the hospital. Doctors confirmed that the cyst was back and was, once again, infected.
Kaela – who claims she was mistreated by staff members who “discredited” her pain and experience – ended up in the hospital for five days, but says no one knew how to treat her. She added: “I really thought I would die if no one would help me.”
At the end of July, Kaela moved to a new doctor’s office at the end of July and was finally diagnosed with a fungal infection.
She said: “She had me start taking this antifungal medication, and within a week, I started to feel so much better. You never know how sick you are until you aren’t sick anymore.”
Over the next few months, the wound slowly healed and Kaela was finally cyst and infection-free. “It’s so silly and insane that a pair of underwear caused mass torment and pain for me for nine months,” she reflected.
“Each time I had to tell a family member, friend, or doctor that this all started because of a pair of underwear, I died a little inside from embarrassment, but now I think it’s quite hilarious. It’s a great comedic relief story that people would never expect to hear.”
Happily, Kaela says her life has taken a “positive turn” since healing from the terrifying incident, with her able to exercise again and even losing 50lbs.
And after sharing her story on TikTok, Kaela has been in touch with a community of women sharing their own experiences with intimate injuries and issues.
She added: “I even have girls and women reach out in my DMs asking for advice on their own vaginal cysts. I feel like a big sister.
“Even though I’m scared my boss will find my videos and know too much about me, I will never take them down. They offer too much value to my fellow sisters!”