Vulvar skin symptoms and conditions

Hi all, I tried the Nuvaring for 3+ months and there was probably only a week in there where I could not feel it. I adjusted and adjusted and adjusted! I eventually took it out because I could feel it in there and all the way down to my vulva. I then ended up getting a burning feeling when I used soap on my vaginal area and sometimes even the water just hitting it made it hurt. I finally went in for a pap smear and brought up the side effects that I was still enduring--at this point it felt like little cuts might be springing up and healing on the vulvar skin--and my doctor suggested it might be lichen sclerosus. (By this time if it was just related to the Nuvaring, it would have subsided.) Heck, I don't want to think that that's what I have because it's not curable (it's inflammatory and likely hormonal) and I'll have to keep using steroid cream topically for ever it seems. The reason why I'm pretty sure I have it is that twice daily for 10 days now it has not cleared up. My doctor wouldn't make the connection with Nuvaring but a couple of searches I've done have found the two things written up together.

I had been using the nuvaring for a year when I started noticing side effects. At first I thought it was just me adjusting to a new partner, or that it was a yeast infection. But then it returned at the same time during each of the next three months. A few days after I took it out, the skin of my vulva would become sensitive and itchy, somewhat swollen or red, and it became difficult to use my keeper (a healthy alternative to tampons). But a few days after the ring went back in it would go away, only to return again. Well, my skin became so sensitive, that my vulva actually tore- almost an inch gash- when I was having sex with my boyfriend and blood was everywhere. I promptly went to my gyn, who had no immediate idea as to the cause of this sensitivity. There are a few possible skin conditions, such as lichen sclerosis, but the thing that stands out is that it happens at the same time each month. My Gyn also said that lack of estrogen can cause the vulvar skin to thin, which would make sense then since it happens when the ring comes out. Perhaps, she said, my body has stopped compensating by creating its own estrogen when on the nuvaring, and the nuvaring is not an adequate replacement. Anyway, its a possibility that the problem is unrelated. i am going for a biopsy tomorrow. But have already comitted to never using the Nuvaring ever again. And my boyfriend is totaly supportive of leaving hormonal contraception behind!