It is definitely a vital part of the regular cleansing process to wash your vaginal and pelvic region to avoid the infestation of bacteria, fungi, and other harmful substances. However, you must remember that your vagina also has self-cleaning properties, due to which you should refrain from douching everyday. In fact, douching can have adverse effects on your vaginal health. Here are five serious health hazards that result from regular douching:

Douching: 5 Serious Health Risks

Vaginal dryness

Contrary to the popular belief that douching well will lead to a more lubricated vagina, it does quite the opposite. Douching involved a high speed of flowing water being pushed inside your vaginal opening, hence washing out all the essential natural oils and good bacteria. This leads to dryness inside the vagina, which can further result in painful sexual intercourse or application of a greater quantity of commercial lubricants. Both of these are bound to have some negative effect on the natural ph level in your vagina.

Bacterial vaginosis

This is one of the most common vaginal diseases that women experience at least a few times in their entire life. Although douching is not the main reason behind this disease, it definitely is one of the major causes. Douching washes out all the good bacteria that thrive inside your vagina and help it maintain the proper level of ph. When the bacteria is washed out, the immunity of the vaginal area decreases, which results in yeast infection. In this condition, you will experience a fishy odour along with thick mucus-like excretion.

Pelvic inflammatory disease

This is another serious reproductive health issue which is associated to regular douching and must be paid attention to. Washing out all the good bacteria and natural oils from your vagina by douching leads to an acute imbalance in its ph level, resulting in growth of bad bacteria and infectious components. In case of a pelvic inflammatory disease, you might find it difficult to get pregnant if you are planning to have a baby. Research says that douching increases the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease by nearly 73%.

Vaginal irritation

This is related to vaginal dryness as well as bacterial vaginosis. Douching on a regular basis leads to a dry vagina and thus causes irritation throughout the day. It can also lead to rashes due to excess friction and heat down there. The heat is caused due to the lack of required moisture, which is washed out after continuous douching.

Cervicitis

This is a condition in which your cervix is swollen. It is said that women who douche on a regular basis, tend to conceive cervicitis by more than 50%, on an average. While douching, the force of the water that gushes into your vagina, directly hits your cervix. This causes the cervix to get unnecessarily irritated and swell up furthermore due to the washing out of all the good bacteria that protect the interiors of your vagina. This condition leads to a swollen pelvic region, especially inside the vagina, and occasional pains accompanied by thick white coloured discharge.

To clean your vaginal area, you can use a mug of warm water gently sponged around the vaginal opening. This can be done just once a day, while taking a bath. Douching is more of a social problem that arises from most women teaching their next generations to do the same. In this way, the process continues. The best practise is to gently rinse the pelvic area and pat it dry. This should be more than enough to keep your reproductive health intact.

For a more detailed outlook on vaginal hygiene and reproductive health, feel free to consult a gynaecologist to receive the best advice and tips. Visit the doctor as soon as you feel that there is some kind of irritation down there. The doctor will give you antibiotics that will mostly be available over the counter. In case the situation is a step ahead of being treated by mild antibiotics, the doctor might recommend certain test to detect the gravity of the infection. There is, however, no particular need to worry as these diseases are curable. But you must know the risk factors and hence take essential precautions by preventing regular douching.