Vaginal inflammatory disease is the most common type of gynecological disease and can develop in all age groups. Because of its proximity to the urethra and anus, the vagina is moist and warm and easily contaminated; women of childbearing age generally have more frequent sex and the vagina is a necessary route for childbirth and uterine surgery, making it vulnerable to damage and infection by external pathogens; postmenopausal women and infants are also susceptible to infection because of low estrogen levels and decreased local resistance. Because of these characteristics, the incidence of vaginitis is high, and most women suffer from vaginitis at least once in their lifetime. A common feature of vaginal inflammation is an increase in vaginal discharge (i.e. leukorrhea) accompanied by vulvar itching, which varies in character, nature and severity of itching due to different pathogens. Normal women also have a certain amount of leukorrhea, but it is clear, transparent, odorless and does not cause vulvar irritation.
Because of the high incidence of vaginitis, most women have encountered it, and some even have repeated multiple episodes, so do you have enough knowledge about vaginitis? Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly encountered misconceptions about vaginismus.
Myth 1: Vaginitis must be a result of poor hygiene.
”It’s hard to say, just wash it”, “Washing is healthier” …… The ubiquitous advertisements in life remind women to do clean work often, so once they get vaginitis, many people will feel that they must not have done a good job in hygiene. However, according to some surveys, the rate of vaginitis infection is also high among those who often use lotion to wash their vulva, especially vaginal douche. The reason for this is due to improper vulva and vaginal douching.
In normal healthy women, the vagina has a natural defense against pathogens due to anatomical and biochemical characteristics; there are many kinds of bacteria in the normal vagina, but they are not pathogenic under normal circumstances because of the ecological balance between the vagina and these flora. Once this balance is disturbed or invaded by exogenous pathogens, vaginal inflammation can occur and, if not treated promptly and correctly, some patients may even develop pelvic infections. Frequent vaginal washing, especially vaginal douching with lotion, can disrupt the vaginal environment, break the vagina’s own ecological balance, change the pH of the vagina, reduce the vaginal self-cleaning function, and cause pathogenic bacteria to multiply and lead to vaginitis.
Therefore, if you don’t feel uncomfortable, you should wash your vulva with water every day, and never use lotion to prevent inflammation, especially douching.
Myth 2: If you have vaginitis again, you can use the same medicine you used last time and you don’t need to get tested again.
Many vaginitis patients who have abnormal leucorrhea or itchy vulva again often buy vaginitis medication or leftover medication from the last time they had vaginitis because they have had it before and think they have experience. However, you do not know that there are different types of vaginitis and different pathogens that cause inflammation, so you need to use targeted medication to be effective. If you don’t go to the hospital to check the cause of the inflammation and use the medication blindly, the lack of standard treatment will not only delay the disease but also make it easier to relapse and develop into intractable vaginitis, especially mycosis.
For patients with initial vaginitis, a leucorrhea examination should be performed after treatment, usually after the next menstrual period, and three consecutive negative tests should be considered as a cure.
Myth 3: Vaginitis is only a female disease and has nothing to do with the spouse.
In fact, vaginitis is not only related to women, but also to male genitalia. If one partner carries the germs during sex, it can lead to infection in the other partner.
In some cases, many men who are carrying germs themselves without any discomfort may carry germs in their semen or prostate fluid and cause recurrent vaginitis in the woman through unprotected sex. Therefore, for recurrent vaginitis, after excluding other causes, male penile secretion test should be performed and positive cases should be treated together.
In addition, sexual intercourse should be prohibited during acute vaginitis infection and resumed after the symptoms have improved and a condom should be worn during sexual intercourse to prevent cross infection.
Myth 4: Blindly buy drugs according to product advertisements.
As mentioned before, there are many kinds of vaginitis, and the medication should be different for different kinds of vaginitis. Therefore, before buying medicine, patients should know the type of disease they are suffering from and choose the right medicine. If you are not sure, you should go to the hospital and the doctor will choose an effective medication according to the pathogens found and the patient’s specific situation. At the same time, the doctor will also tell the patient the correct method and course of medication to avoid the development of drug resistance and recurrence of the disease.
Advertising is not an instruction manual, it will not explain the applicability, contraindications and side effects of the drug in detail in the advertisement, which can be misleading to consumers. Therefore, it is absolutely undesirable to blindly buy drugs for vaginitis based on advertising.
Myth 5: You need to use antibiotics to treat inflammation and take more to get better fast.
Many people generally believe that inflammation is caused by bacteria and that antibiotics can kill the bacteria and treat the inflammation. In fact, the most common pathogens that cause vaginal inflammation are mold and trichomonas in addition to bacteria, and general antibiotics have no therapeutic effect on them, especially mold. On the contrary, if too many antibiotics are used, the direct consequence is that the germs become resistant and can destroy the balance between the vaginal flora, leading to the growth of fungi, thus making the treatment cycle continuously prolonged and the disease not effectively treated. The use of antibiotics, especially in the case of fungal infections, can aggravate the symptoms of the infection. Therefore, usually do not use antibiotics without permission, especially a large number of long-term use of antibiotics.
Myth 6: You can stop taking the medicine when the symptoms disappear.
Most of the time, vaginitis is treated with medication for a few days and many people think that if the discomfort disappears, it means that the inflammation is cured and there is no need to continue using medication.
But in fact, there is a strict course of treatment for vaginitis, and if you don’t follow the course of medication, the infection will mostly rebound again. Therefore, you should take the full course of medication and review it regularly afterwards according to the doctor’s prescription to determine whether the inflammation has been cured or not, and do not stop taking the medication without permission.