Twenty patients with chronic vulvar burning (vulvodynia) who had relief of symptoms only after treatment with low-dose amitriptyline were studied retrospectively. These patients had several factors in common, which suggested a possible neurologic component to their symptoms. The dosage of amitriptyline (initiated at 10 mg, gradually increased to 40-60 mg daily) was not sufficient to treat depression, but was in the range effective for other cutaneous dysesthesias. This study defines dysesthetic ("essential") vulvodynia, and describes a typical profile and symptom pattern for patients most likely to respond to treatment with amitriptyline (an average age of 66 with vulvodynia for three years). Dysesthetic vulvodynia appears to be a subset different from vulvar vestibulitis and other types of vulvodynia that are less responsive to treatment with tricyclic antidepressants.