Various vaginal practices have taken the world by storm especially in the digital age, where marketing has become so much easier.
Intimate washes, soaps and cleansing bars have been marketed as feminine hygiene products, and have grown increasingly popular, much to the detriment of vaginas, warned Dr Mpume Zenda.
Zenda is an obstetrician, gynaecologist and sexologist, known to many as @dr.gynae on Instagram.
The specialist said women were sold an idea of what vaginas were supposed to be like. “Because we don’t know any better, we fall for it. The vagina is okay as is.”
Zenda said the vagina is a self-cleansing organ. “It needs no more than water, a shower or a bath once or twice a day.”
She said:“Feminine hygiene products insinuate that something is wrong with how our vaginas smell and that they need cleansing.”
With the rise of social media and influencers getting paid to market products, vaginal trends have increased. Some of these include vaginal steaming or smoking and vaginal facials, known as vajacials.
The first issue that Zenda raised is how products negatively affect the pH balance of the vagina. The abbreviation pH stands for potential hydrogen, and a pH balance dictates the acidity or alkalinity of something.
“The vagina has a sensitive pH rating from 3.5 – 4.5. If you predispose it to anything that shifts your pH, the bacteria and yeast that lives in the vagina can cause thrush or a yeast infection,” she said.
A woman who prefers to remain anonymous used a feminine intimate wash for a month before she started having an abnormally thick discharge.
“I didn’t understand what was happening because I wasn’t sexually active,” she said.
“I went to the doctor and she told me I have a yeast infection and that the product messed up my pH balance” she added.
Zenda further explained that if the bacteria that is supposed to maintain the vagina’s pH level is too low, women can suffer from bacterial vaginosis, which causes a smelly discharge.
Zenda said these infections were not sexually transmitted, but were caused by a change in the vagina’s environment.
“Having a yeast infection or bacterial vaginosis causes vulnerability of the lining of your vagina. This makes you more susceptible to contracting more dangerous viruses, like HIV, herpes or Human papillomavirus (HPV).”
A previous study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), looked at gender, sexuality and vaginal practices, and their implications on sexual health. The study was conducted in four countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Mozambique and South Africa.
The study looked at various methods of vaginal practices that include external washing, intravaginal cleansing, external application and vaginal steaming.
In South Africa, the study was completed in KwaZulu-Natal and showed that intravaginal cleansing was prominent in the province. This refers to the internal cleansing or washing inside the vagina includes wiping the internal genitalia with fingers and other substances. This practice was prevalent in 63.3% of women in KZN.
Applications of products outside the vagina were recorded at 43% in the province.
The WHO concluded their study saying: “Women’s care and treatment of their vagina and genital area might affect their vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections (STIs including HIV), and other sexual and reproductive morbidities.”
Greta Dreyer, an executive committee member of the South African Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (SASOG), said the vagina needs non-abrasive, non-allergenic, non-irritant products that have a non-alkaline pH level.
“There is no control over the method of use, so also limited responsibility on the side of the manufacturer,” she said.
She added: “In the short and long term the vaginal flora can be changed for the better or for the worse.”
Dreyer said vaginal douching has been shown to carry inherent dangers.
“It can change and penetrate the cervical barrier to the upper genital tract; it can precipitate upper genital or intra-abdominal infections.”
Dreyer’s advice to anyone using these products is to use them with caution.
“If you are using them, preferably on the outer genital area only.”