Monday, August 31, 2009

Is douching healthy and safe for women?

Douching might give an impression to be a clean, hygienic act but in fact it isn’t. Vaginal douching or cleaning the vagina with harsh soaps and squirting water is an unsafe practice and leads to vaginal infections. Imagine, a practice developed for cleaning, which actually leads to infections!

Why is douching unhealthy?

Douching leads to a wide variety of problems. Women who douche stand at risk of many problems including yeast infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, ectopic pregnancy and even cancer. Douching destroys the natural bacteria that keep the vagina clean naturally. Douching results in abnormal PH levels in the vagina and actually aggravates the bad smell down there that most women complain about. Like eyes, vaginas do not need to be cleaned; they clean themselves.


Relation between douching and HIV infections

Douching disrupts your vagina’s natural cleansing system and rinses away the bacteria and yeast that fight vaginal infections. This leads to irritation, which makes it easier for us to pick up sexually transmitted diseases, bacterial infections, yeast infections and the HIV infection. Women with HIV are at greater risk of gynaecological problems, as douching can rinse away healthy vaginal secretions and boost the multiplication of viruses.


Douching products – Marketing gimmicks

Some douching products on the market profit from your insecurity of having a smelly vagina. This unique smell of the vagina is actually not bad, unless it is accompanied by greenish, brownish, yellowish or bloody discharge. Under these circumstances, you should talk to a doctor or gynaecologist about your problem. All these products are nothing but marketing gimmicks that sell because women are concerned with their own smell. If you are concerned with your vaginal smell and want to smell nice and fresh, just wash the outer part of your genitalia with warm water and gentle soap, making sure soap and water doesn’t enter your vaginal cavity. If the bad smell persists and the vaginal discharge does not look healthy to you, consult a doctor but don’t douche!

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