Vaginal Discharge

Hello everyone,

I am Dr. Astha Dayal and I am a gynaecologist. So today I am gonna discuss about vaginal discharge. So actually a lot of young woman who come with vaginal discharge or UTI but sabse phle everyone should know that there is some discharge which is a normal discharge. So, in a normal menstrual cycle the first first week after your periods there is hardly any discharge. Then in the middle of the cycle which is between the 10th to the 20th day, there is a lot watery colourless discharge which can happen and in the last week before your period there is a thick white whitish discharge. So this is the normal cycle of the vaginal discharge and if it is not troubling you, if it is not causing any irritation or smell, then you don't really need to treat it.

However, if there is a foul smell or there is any burning or pain or itching or if it is causing other symptoms like painful urination, painful intercourse then you must visit your doctor and get it checked. So there are a little there are different kinds of discharge. So, the most common one that we come across is candidal discharge which is a fungal infection. Now a lot of reasons can cause this discharge especially in moisture or if you have a family history of diabetes or you eat a lot of sweets or if you recently had a course of antibiotics. So this fungal infection can cause a curdy white discharge which causes itching. This can even happen to girls who are not sexually active and this needs some examination by doctor and needs an antifungal treatment. So we need to give you some oral antifungals and some local pessary as well.

Similarly there are some kinds of discharges which are bacterial infections like a greenish discharge or a yellowish discharge or a foul smelling discharge. So these discharges usually happen in someone sexually active and may be if you are not using protection then you will have a higher chance of having such an infection. This is a little risky because this infection can travel to the through the cervix it will go into the uterus, it can go into the ovaries, tubes and it can cause a PID or a pelvic inflammatory disease. So it is important that if you have any abnormal discharge you must visit your doctor and you need to treat it and we generally over treat such a discharge because we give you a long course of antibiotics so that this infection does not spread to the abdomen; specially when you are young, in your 20s you are more likely to cause to get such a such an infection and it is important to treat it totally so that it does not spread to the pelvis.

Also I get a lot of girls who complain of UTI. Now UTI and a vaginal infection are two different things. UTI means a urine infection. It can happen if you use washrooms which are dirty, it can even happen after intercourse and that really needs a urine examination. So we need to do a urine routine and culture to check whether there is actual infection in the urine and usme the symptoms jo apko honge you'll feel like you have to go to the washroom again and again, you'll feel a little pain towards the end of passing urine, you feel little feverish, you feel little chill and shivering, you will feel a little nausea and these are symptoms of urine infection.

This can this also needs antibiotics and you need to have a lot of fluids and more and a proper treatment according to the culture with a full course of antibiotics you should do. Now the problem with these UTIs and vaginal infection are they are recurrent. Ye bar bar bar bar bar bar hoti hai. So it is important that you maintain some particular hygiene jaise washroom jabhi bhi aap use karenge must make sure that you not have a little contact, you are avoiding a dirty washroom. Also for the discharge, you have to be careful that you are keeping the area dry. You always clean from front to back, you keep the area you wear loose cotton underclothes, you also are able to you avoid synthetic undergarments and tight lowers which can cause a little sweaty and avoid a lot of sweets or sugary things. Also a very important thing is you should always use barrier contraception, you should avoid a lot of scented products in that area, these perfumes and douches and all they are very they could be harmful to the delicate mucosa in that area. So if you have if you take care about all these things the frequency of these infections is much much less. So, I think that is all we gonna talk about today.

Thank you.