Published Oct 25, 2019

Don’t Be Fooled By the Advertising — This Feminine Hygiene Practice May Up Your Risk of HPV and Ovarian Cancer

Vaginal douching can increase your risk of ovarian cancer and cancer-causing HPV -- experts say it's best to let your vagina clean itself.

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The Dangers of Douching

Flushing your vagina with water or some other solution an attempt to keep it clean has long been advertised as a hygienic and beneficial practice. But don’t be fooled. Research shows that douching is associated with:

A much higher risk of ovarian cancer
Higher prevalence of the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV)
Higher levels of dangerous toxins in the blood

"Douching"that is, using a device that sprays water or some other solution to clean out your vaginais an outdated practice that does more harm than good. Research shows that the practice can (counterintuitively) leave your genitals more susceptible to infections such as cancer-causing human papillomavirus. It the practice has also been associated with much higher rates of ovarian cancer. Now, a new study shows that women who douche have higher levels of dangerous chemicals in their blood. Long-term exposure to these chemicals, called "volatile organic compounds," may increase cancer risk. According to the new study, published in the Journal of Women's Health, women who used a douche at least twice a month had 81 percent higher blood concentrations of one of these dangerous chemicals, called "1,4-dichlorobenzene," than women who never douched.

Leave it to Nature

Members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a group of over 58,000 doctors who specialize in women's health, collectively say they do not recommend the use of vaginal douches.

Your vagina, as it turns out, is really good at self-cleaning. It's designed to clean and protect itself with natural secretions, and the "good bacteria" in your vagina plays a really important role in fighting off dangerous infections.

Discharge is totally normal. ACOG doctors explain, "it is mostly water and also contains microorganisms. The discharge naturally keeps the genital area clean and healthy by removing dead cells from the lining of the vaginaâ€¦ Vaginal infections can occur if anything disrupts the natural balance of the bacteria that normally are present in your vagina."

A disruption in this natural balance (which can result from douching) can make the vagina more susceptible to yeast infections as well as dangerous sexually-transmitted viruses, such as HPV. HPV can cause cervical and anal cancers, among other cancer types, and a 2016 study found that douching was associated with a 26 percent increase in HPV.

Douching, Vaginal Bacteria, and Ovarian Cancer

Recently, a major study in Lancet Oncology also showed that women with ovarian cancer had lower levels of good bacteria in their vaginas than women without cancer. These findings further strengthen the case for leaving your vagina beand letting that good bacteria do its thing.

In a conversation about the study, Dr. Douglas Levine, a gynecologic oncologist at NYU Langone Health, told SurvivorNet, "there is no reason for women to be concerned about vaginal bacterial levels or try to do anything to change them based on results from this study." The key here is that less is more when it comes to vaginal hygiene. The "cervicovaginal microbiota"that is, the vagina's bacterial environmentis the way it is for a reason. It's best not to rock the boat.

The National Office on Women's Health says it's best to let your vagina clean itself. But if you're going to use soap, make sure you use an un-perfumed, gentle soap.

If you're worried about odor, or have pain while urinating or sex, instead of trying to address the problem with a douche (which will only make it worse), it's best to bring it up to your doctor. The symptoms may be a sign of infection.

Keeping Your Good Bacteria Healthy

Even though the experts say it's best not to try to do anything drastic (like douching) to change up the bacterial environment in your vagina, if you want to keep the good bacteria healthy, there is one thing that you can do: eat a diverse diet that includes natural probiotics.

"Things that have healthy good bacteria in them can add to your microbiome," Krista Maruschak, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet in a previous conversation about the gut microbiome (which may have ties to the vaginal microbiome). "Things like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kombuchaany sort of fermented food can help to increase that good bacteria in your gut."

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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