Feminine Wellness Explained
Feminine Wellness is the term that is used to describe understanding and taking care of the most intimate part of the female body, the vagina and vulva. While it may be uncomfortable for some to talk about, it is important that we understand what we can do to help women keep their intimate areas happy and healthy
How To Keep Your Vagina Happy
It is no secret when we say the vagina is a sensitive region. With its self-cleaning abilities and unique bacterial flora, it may be confusing to know what exactly keeps your vagina happy. There are a number of simple lifestyle choices that women of all ages can make to avoid the discomfort all people with vaginas know all too well when experiencing PH imbalances and infection.
But don’t worry! We got you covered.
Diet Choices Matter
You are what you eat, it’s true. This saying includes vaginal health and wellness. There are many ways in which people with vagina’s can tweak their diet to maintain a good PH balance and overall health.
Water
It is always good to keep tissues healthy and hydrated. Well hydrated bodies also can effectively get rid of waste too. Your vagina is a damp environment, and dryness can lead to discomfort. Drinking enough water can give your vagina enough hydration to help maintain its balance.
Yogurt
Yogurt is just one of the many food loaded with probiotics. Probiotics are loaded with the good kinds of bacteria that can help your body function the way it needs. If you are taking antibiotics, yogurt is a great asset to your fridge to maintain your vaginal flora.
Cranberry Supplements & Cranberry Juice
Taking Cranberry supplements, or even drinking cranberry juice without added sugars can help not only prevent UTI’s, but help treat symptoms of yeast infections. Cranberry does this by helping restore the PH balance in your vagina and vulva while fighting off the bad bacteria infecting you with its acidity.
High Fibre Foods
Fibre is not only good for your digestive system, but also your reproductive system. Foods that are high in fibre are also prebiotics. Prebiotics work alongside probiotics, by giving the healthy bacteria something to feed on to to stay strong and continue fighting off the bad bacteria.
Prebiotics include nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Eating healthy is important in maintaining good health. If this is difficult, talk to your doctor or nutritionist and create a plan that works for you.
The Right Ways To Keep Clean
The answer to keeping your vagina clean is much simpler than someone may think. Since the vagina is self-cleaning via discharge, soaps and other cleansers are not necessary in the majority of cases. Vaginal discharge is healthy; and its smell, texture, and appearance are great indicators of vaginal health. All you need to do to help your vagina maintain its flora is to use some warm water in the shower. Using soaps that are not specifically designed for cleaning the vagina will disrupt the pH balance and lead to irritation and other uncomfortable conditions.
Go For Your Routine Checks
Making an appointment with your gynaecologist is always nerve wracking. The uncomfortable paper gowns, the discomfort of pap smears, and so much more aren’t anything any lady looks forward to.
It seems easy to leave it for a later date. However, these tests are vital in not only prevention, but the treatment of conditions such as Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) to cancer of the cervix, uterus, or ovaries. Many cancers can go unnoticed without symptoms until they become very severe, but a yearly Pap smear after turning 21 can potentially catch these cancers before they even begin.
If your gynaecologist is able to diagnose something, they are able to prescribe the right creams, medications, or preventative procedures to help your vagina restore its natural healthy flora and avoid discomfort and potentially severe disease.
If you are sexually active, if you have new sexual partners, or even think something may be wrong, routine STI testing can help catch STI’s you may not know you have. Did you know that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 1 million STIs are acquired every year. A lot of the time, STIs are asymptomatic but are still contagious. Being open about your sexual history with sexual partners and your doctor is important at avoiding transmission.
In the case that you have any concerns about your vagina, do not hesitate to visit your doctor. Although awkward and uncomfortable, your sexual health and wellness depend on it.
Things To Avoid
pH Balancers
The typical pH level of the vagina is somewhere in between 3.8 and 5 which helps to control bacterial and fungal overgrowth. That being said, vaginal pH levels are nothing to obsess over unless you are experiencing discomfort or other symptoms like itching or burning. Naturally, unless you have been diagnosed with a condition by a doctor, your vagina can regulate its pH level on its own without the help of pH balancing tablets, supplements, or creams. If you are experiencing discomfort or pain you should visit your doctor or gynaecologist as soon as you can to get a proper diagnosis of your condition, and not try to treat it yourself at home.
Douching
Douching, and rinsing the vagina out with any sort of liquid for that matter, is entirely unnecessary in most circumstances unless directed by a doctor. Douching disrupts the vagina’s natural flora and has actually been shown to increase the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, recurrent yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, and cervical cancer.
Steaming
We all know that taking showers that are too hot can damage our skin, so just imagine the sort of damage that hot water and steam can do to an organ as sensitive as the vagina. Vaginal Steaming does not have any recognized scientific studies that confirm its efficacy in treating any of the conditions it is supposed to treat. Quite the contrary, in 2019 a case was reported where a 62 year old woman suffered 2nd degree burns while attempting to use vaginal steaming to treat vaginal prolapse. Steaming your vagina also disrupts its natural pH levels, and can lead to all the same issues as douching while risking a nasty burn.
How To Rejuvenate Your Vagina
Whether we bear children or not, we naturally age, and our vaginas undergo changes just like the rest of our bodies. Thankfully there are procedures that can be done to help safely revitalize and rejuvenate your vagina to reduce dryness, urinary incontinence, and enhance its appearance and your sexual satisfaction.
Injections like The O Shot
“The O-Shot” is a non-surgical procedure that uses injections of Platelet Rich Plasma and natural growth factors to promote healing in the cells of the vagina, g-spot, and clitoris. The O-Shot, when done correctly, can help improve sexual function, arousal, and treat urinary incontinence.
Rejuvenation like Plus90® / Votiva
Similar to “The O-Shot”, Plus90® (formerly known as Votiva) also aims to restore sexual function, improve arousal, and treat conditions like Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause (GSM), urinary incontinence, and vaginal dryness. However, instead of using injections, this procedure deploys gentle volumetric heating to promote collagen rejuvenation and restore tissue within the vagina. Plus90® treatments should be spaced 10 to 12 weeks apart and many ladies only need two or three sessions to see the full benefits of Plus90, with some seeing and feeling improvements after just one session.
Cosmetic Surgeries like Labiaplasty or Clitoral Hood Reduction
For a more drastic approach, some ladies may opt for surgical procedures to change the appearance of their vulva entirely. Labiaplasty is a procedure where the labia minora and labia majora are surgically reduced and reshaped according to the patient’s desire and doctor’s capability. Clitoral Hood reduction is a similar procedure where a portion of the skin around the clitoris is surgically removed to make it easier for the clitoris to be stimulated.
At Dea Beauty Clinic, we only specialize in non-surgical procedures like vaginal rejuvenation using Plus90®, for additional information on surgical procedures, always consult with your doctor to find the treatment that is right for you, and select a qualified plastic surgeon with a good track record and success rate
