Is Vaginal Douching A Helpful Or Harmful Practice?

Vaginal douching is a common practice among many women across the globe. A wide range of women, approximately 29% to 92%, use a douche for intimate hygiene.¹ However, the benefits of this technique are heavily debated. What’s more, experts believe that it may cause more harm than good to women’s reproductive health.²

So let’s dive deeper into the world of vaginal douching and find out if it is actually helpful or harmful for you.

The Practice Of Vaginal Douching

The word douching means “wash” or “soak” in French.² Douching is a practice of intravaginal cleaning with the help of a douche (watertight container with a tube or nozzle). The container can be filled with plain water or a concoction of water, vinegar, iodine, baking soda and other components.²

Why Do People Use A Douche?

Most women perform vaginal douching for one of the following reasons:³

• Maintain hygiene and keep the vagina clean
• To eliminate strange vaginal odour
• Get rid of period blood after menstruation
• Wash away sperm after penetrative sex to prevent pregnancy
• Avoid sexually transmitted diseases

Is Vaginal Douching Of Any Help?

According to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG), douching is actually harmful to your vaginal health.⁴ Douching, rather than solving problems, actively causes them. This results in women facing issues like infection, odour, and discharge, which they were actively intending to avoid. In addition, it can also have an indirect effect on women’s fertility.

The vagina is a self-cleaning organ and maintains a healthy pH without any external interference.⁵ The hormone, estrogen, encourages the growth of lactobacilli down there and keeps the vaginal lining thick. These useful bacteria maintain an acidic environment which protects your vagina from infectious microorganisms. 

The natural balance of bacteria and yeast in the vagina (called the vaginal flora) is disturbed by douching as it upsets the pH balance.⁶ This paves the way for harmful bacteria and other sexually transmitted infections like HPV to grow unhindered in your vagina.

Health Risks Associated With Vaginal Douching

Regular douching can cause any of the following problems for women:

1. Vaginal Dryness

Douching can often result in vaginal dryness and cause symptoms like itchiness, pain, and discomfort in your vaginal area. And also increases the need to pee and results in frequent urinary tract infections.⁷

2. Bacterial Vaginosis

An imbalance of the “good” and “harmful” bacteria in your vagina can result in bacterial vaginosis (BV). Douching is one of the major causes of the excess growth of certain bacteria. BV can increase your chances of getting other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).⁸

3. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a condition where sexually transmitted infections spread from the vagina to the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries.⁹ Research shows that vaginal douching can elevate the risk of PID in women by 73%.¹⁰ Furthermore, 1 in 10 women are at risk of infertility due to PID.¹¹ You should consider these harmful repercussions before opting for vaginal douche.

4. HPV And Cervical Cancer

Vaginal douching can make your body more susceptible to infections like HPV as well.¹² The worst part is that most cases of genital HPV are asymptomatic and go unnoticed for a long period of time.¹³ This leads to several cases of cervical cancer in women.¹⁰

If you practise douching regularly, you should get checked for this infection as soon as possible. LifeCell’s HPV Test - Female offers an advanced and cost-effective testing solution at your doorstep. You can get your results with expert recommendations within a matter of days and consult your doctor for appropriate treatment options.

5. Pregnancy-related Issues

In addition to these serious health conditions, vaginal douching can cause lots of trouble when you get pregnant. It is notoriously known to cause the following:^3,10

• Preterm birth
• Lower birth weight in infants
• Ectopic pregnancy

Therefore, ACOG strictly recommends pregnant ladies avoid douching at all costs.⁴ The experts suggest that you can clean your vulva with plain water while in the shower and not use any other material.⁴

In A Nutshell

It’s always better to steer clear of practices like vaginal douching. They do not serve the purpose of keeping your vagina clean and in turn, lead to an increased risk of STDs like HPV. You can get tested for such infections if you have been using a douche for some time now. Performing thorough research is highly beneficial when making decisions that could impact your reproductive health in the future!