The Use Of Petroleum Jelly Can Lead To Bacterial Infection

The Use Of Petroleum Jelly Can Lead To Bacterial Infection.
Women who use petroleum jelly vaginally may put themselves at gamble of a plain infection called bacterial vaginosis, a flat muse about suggests. Prior studies have linked douching to unfriendly effects, including bacterial vaginosis, and an increased hazard of sexually transmitted diseases and pelvic mutinous disease resimleri. But little research has been conducted on the possible possessions of other products some women use vaginally, said Joelle Brown, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the original study.

She and her colleagues found that of 141 Los Angeles women they studied, half said they'd cast-off some species of over-the-counter offshoot vaginally in the past month, including sexual lubricants, petroleum jelly and child oil. Almost as many, 45 percent, reported douching. When the researchers tested the women for infections, they found that those who'd employed petroleum jelly in the since month were more than twice as right as non-users to have bacterial vaginosis.

Bacterial vaginosis occurs when the natural balance between "good" and "bad" bacteria in the vagina is disrupted. The symptoms involve discharge, pain, itching or passionate - but most women have no symptoms, and the infection all things considered causes no long-term problems. Still, bacterial vaginosis can alter women more vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

It also once in a while leads to pelvic inflammatory disease, which can cause infertility. The unusual findings, reported in the April issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, do not show that petroleum jelly straight increased women's risk of bacterial vaginosis. But it's possible, said Dr Sten Vermund, head of the Institute for Global Health at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn.

Petroleum jelly might speak for the crop of bad bacteria because of its "alkaline properties," explained Vermund, who was not active in the study. "An acidic vaginal circumstances is what protects women from colonization from peculiar organisms," Vermund said. He noted that many studies have now linked douching to an increased endanger of vaginal infections. And that may be because the modus operandi "disrupts the natural vaginal ecology," Vermund said.

Normally, the vagina predominantly contains "good" bacteria that reveal hydrogen peroxide. And experts explain that this natural territory "cleans" the vagina; women do not need special products to do it. Yet many women on to douche, using products that may in irritating antiseptics and fragrances.

Up to 40 percent of US women venerable 18 to 44 douche regularly, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. "The frequency with which American women use expendable and dangerous intravaginal products is unfortunate," Vermund said. It's not set that douching, itself, causes infections, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises women against the practice.

The reported findings are based on a grouping of racially diversified women who agreed to screening for sexually transmitted diseases. Slightly more than one-quarter were HIV-positive. Overall, Brown's gang found, 21 percent of the women had bacterial vaginosis, and 6 percent had a yeast infection. Women who'd in use petroleum jelly in the background month were 2,2 times more fitting to have bacterial vaginosis than non-users.

That was with other factors, including race, epoch and douching habits, captivated into account. It did not appear that women were using the upshot because of symptoms. Women with the infection were no more likely to report vaginal symptoms than other women were. And none of those with symptoms said they worn petroleum jelly for relief.

In distinguish to those findings, douching was not linked to bacterial vaginosis danger in the study. Brown said this could be the end of having only a small number of women in the study "and the truth that women used various substances for intravaginal washing - which obviously varied substantially in their chemical constituents and concentrations". Similarly, animal lubricants were not linked to increased odds of bacterial vaginosis.

That decision echoes what past studies have found, Vermund said, so women who emergency sexual lubricants for comfort can gulp down some reassurance, he noted. Still, Brown said that larger studies are needed to verify these findings, and to understand how various products can touch women's health if they are used vaginally. For now, she recommended that women query questions before using any product vaginally purchase. Women should jabber with their health care providers and ask them if the products they are using interior their vagina are known to be safe for use in the vagina.