How to properly clean the vagina
The skin of the vagina is very sensitive and to many people perfumed soaps also cause irritation or itching.Soap Works Coal Tar Bar Soap, 8-Count with Free Soap Works Natural Wood Soap Dish
It is an area where the skin is as delicate as the face. And not taking care of it can lead to infections that are so difficult to treat that they can not be cured with medicines. But perhaps many women have never received that fundamental lesson: how to perform their intimate hygiene.
"Low genital infections and all the problems of the vulva, stool, irritation, are very frequent and are very difficult to treat," gynecologist Natalia Pérez told BBC Mundo.
These infections are alterations of the set of microorganisms called vaginal flora or microbiota, and the crucial thing, at the time of hygiene, is to preserve the delicate balance of these microorganisms.
"The skin of the vulva is very delicate, it is almost similar to that of the face and we constantly attack it, because we use daily protectors, tight clothes or underwear that is not correct," warned Dr. Pérez, assistant professor of tract genitalia in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay.
What exactly is the vaginal flora and what are the basic hygiene tips to protect it?
"Acid" flora
The vagina has an acid ph, a natural defense against infections. The vagina has a whole microsystem of defenses "because it is prepared for intercourse trauma".
The vaginal microbiota is then "the one that will defend us from all the microorganisms that are pathogenic and that cause us disease".
The problem arises when there are changes such as bacterial vaginosis, which is nothing more than the alteration of the vaginal microbiota, according to Dr. Pérez.
"Instead of being in the right amount some germs, instead of being in the normal amount, increase in quantity because it just decreases the ph or increases the ph".
Bacterial vaginosis does not produce inflammation but a white grayish medium flow.
"The characteristic is that people come and say I have a bad smell, they speak of a pungent odor, a fishy smell and what there is is an alteration of the flora".
No perfumed soaps or colored clothes
What practical advice does Dr. Pérez offer for intimate female hygiene?
1. Do not use scented soaps
"You should not use perfumed soaps because they have substances that alter the vaginal flora," says the gynecologist.
"Soap astringent soaps that have a lot of caustic soda that kills vaginal flora, such as soaps that are called laundry bars, should not be used either."
vagina
The appropriate soaps are then those of glycerin, or those soaps "specific for intimate hygiene that now are like a shampoo, especially to wash the vulva".
"There are specific soaps for intimate hygiene that do so is to increase lactobacilli, the main germ of our microbiota."
The skin of the vulva is very sensitive and to many people perfumed soaps also cause irritation or itching.
2. Only water?
Specific soaps are tested on various types of skin and generally do not cause problems.
"But when a patient already has alterations in the skin of the vulva, it is right to remove all the possible irritants of the vulva, that is why in some people any kind of soap is discouraged and the washing is indicated only with water".
"This is usually until all the symptoms have passed or in people who have a lot of allergy, not all of them."
3. Keep the skin of the vulva and vagina as ventilated as possible
Dr. Pérez recommends "do not use daily protectors, or use only those that can maintain a flow of ventilation or air.There are some that are specific for that and have a plot that is not so closed, it does not leave the vagina and the vulva, so to speak, as covered. "
The expert also advises sleeping without underwear or with very loose underwear, since the humidity and excessive heat can also be harmful.
"You have to accustom the girls to try to sleep without underwear, nobody says that you walk naked, without some short of pajamas as loose as possible so that this area is ventilated, otherwise it is like having a part of the organism permanently covered, that area suffers ".
4. Always wash from front to back
"We women have the urethra, the vagina and the anus, and from the anus to the vagina one can drag germs that also colonize the vagina and alter the vaginal flora with bugs that do not have to be there."
5. Wear cotton and white underwear
"The fabric has to be made of cotton just so as not to gather heat, so as not to leave that area covered because the cotton has a mesh that lets the air pass," Dr. Pérez explained to BBC Mundo.
The Uruguayan gynecologist also warns about the use of very tight jeans.
And he points out that "it is better that the underwear be white or beige, sometimes the colored clothes are dyed with products that do not alter the flora, but in general the anilines used to dye can also alter the flora".
The black underwear, in addition, "produces heat in that area".
6. Change tampons at least every four hours
Dr. Pérez recommends, as much as possible, not to put anything in the vagina, but if tampons are used, it is essential to make a correct replacement.
"You can not leave a lot of time because it's a reservoir of blood, it should be changed at least every four hours."
"There are people who forget and spend a day with a tampon and that causes infections."
7. Do not wash inside the vagina
"There are people who are very obsessive about hygiene and wash themselves inside the vagina, that drags all the flora, kills all its vaginal flora."
"They are people who have a lot of flow problems and will have problems of low genital infections in the future."
"There are people who go to urinate and wash, you have to wash only once a day with a suitable soap."
8. Do not use a bidet
Washing in a bidet "is bad because it helps all the germs of the anus to spread all over the perineum and to enter the vagina".
That is why it is generally said that urinary infections are genitourinary, "because they can be germs that are in the vagina and go to the urethra." As it is an area where everything is together, you have to take care of it a lot ".
"Put the flora ready"
When infections in the vagina arise, ovules are usually recommended, "some tablets that are put in the vagina that are generally antibiotics," explained the doctor.
"What they do is kill the microorganisms that we have, for example, when we have a fungus, the most frequent is candidiasis, we also send ovules, we can also send antibiotics orally, but this is continuously altering our flora, because We kill that little mushroom, we also kill others that are inside our vaginal microbiota ".
The flow is a very constant symptom that "only with drug treatment we do not cure it, because it is an alteration of your flora".
"Until you put the flora to the point and in the right state, the symptom will not be cured."