Pain or burning when urinating

Category: Urinary & Kidneys · All urinary symptoms

What it can feel like

Pain or burning when urinating (dysuria) is a stinging, burning or scalding feeling as urine passes, often with a need to go more often and urgently. In women it most often means a bladder infection; in men it always deserves assessment, because urinary infection in men is less straightforward.

Possible causes

A symptom can have many causes, and most are not serious. The lists below group conditions this symptom can be associated with — common causes first. They are possibilities to discuss with a clinician, not a diagnosis.

Common causes

Burning can be associated with cystitis (bladder infection), dehydration concentrating the urine, irritation from soaps or spermicides, thrush, and sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia.

Other possible causes

Burning can also be associated with kidney infection when fever and back pain join it, with prostate inflammation in men, bladder stones, and, rarely, bladder conditions including tumours when burning persists with blood in the urine.

Red flags — when to seek help promptly

Burning with fever, shivering, vomiting or pain in the side or back — urgent
Burning in pregnancy, or in a man of any age
Burning with visible blood in the urine
Burning that keeps coming back, or does not settle with treatment

What a clinician may do

A clinician will test a urine sample — often with a dipstick there and then — and may send it for culture. Examination and, in men, a prostate assessment may follow. Recurrent infections lead to blood tests and sometimes scans of the kidneys and bladder.

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Frequently asked questions

Why do I need a urine test if it feels obvious?

Because several conditions mimic cystitis, and because the culture identifies the bacterium and which antibiotics work against it. Testing matters most in men, in pregnancy, with blood in the urine, and when infections keep returning.

Can I have a urine infection without burning?

Yes — especially in older people, where infection may show as confusion, falls or general unwellness instead. Conversely, burning can occur with thrush or irritation without bacterial infection, which is another reason to test.

Related symptoms — Urinary & Kidneys

Being unable to pass urine Blood in the urine Cloudy or strong-smelling urine Difficulty starting to urinate Flank pain Foamy urine

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Please note: This page is educational information about a symptom. A symptom alone cannot diagnose any condition, and the causes listed here are possibilities, not a diagnosis. If you are worried about a symptom — especially one that is new, severe, getting worse or not going away — please see your own clinician, who can examine you and arrange tests. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.