Reasons You Shouldn't Douche Your Vagina

Douching is the act of forcing water or some solution into the vagina. It is usually done with plain water or some combination of water and vinegar, baking soda, or iodine using a douching device. 

Besides making themselves feel fresher, women say they douche to keep the vagina clean, get rid of unpleasant odors, wash away menstrual blood after their period, avoid getting sexually transmitted diseases, and prevent a pregnancy after intercourse.

Despite the perceived benefits of vaginal douching, this practice actually does more harm than good.

These are some of the downsides of vaginal douching:

1. Douching can disrupt the natural balance of organisms in the vagina: 


The vagina houses organisms which keep each other in check and help to maintain its health.

Douching can destroy one type of organism and allow the other grow or proliferate, thus causing an infection.

Yeast infection also known as Candida, happens as a result of proliferation of fungi in the vagina. While bacterial vaginosis occurs as a result of proliferation of bacteria in the vagina.

2. Douching can increase the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease:

Pelvic inflammatory disease is an infection in the reproductive organ in females.

Douching can increase the risk of this infection happening by pushing bacteria from the vagina canal into the Fallopian tubes, uterus, ovaries.

3. Douching ups the risk of pregnancy related problems:

The belief that douching washes away sperm after sex and helps to prevent pregnancy is not true.

Douching often pushes the sperm into the uterus causing pregnancy. Pregnancies caused in such manner have higher chances of being complicated.

The complications may be ectopic pregnancy (a condition wherein the fertilized egg gets implanted outside the uterus), birth defect etc.

4. Douching causes vaginal irritation and dryness:

The vaginal walls are lined with very thin, delicate skin, and douching can irritate and inflame this skin.

Washing the outside of your vagina with warm water when you bathe is enough to keep the vagina clean and healthy.

Some women also use mild soaps. But, if you have sensitive skin or any current vaginal infections, even mild soaps can cause dryness and irritation.

Also avoid scented tampons, pads, powders and sprays because the chemicals used to create these scents can irritate the vagina.



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