“Douche” is French for to wash or soak. Douching washes or cleans out the vagina, usually with a mixture of water, vinegar, baking soda or iodine. Approximately 20 to 40 percent of women in the United States douche on a regular basis with half douching at least once a week, reports the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Doctors say douching can be harmful to your health and affect your ability to become pregnant.
Reasons Women Douche
Many women mistakenly believe it is healthy to douche. They believe that douching cleans out their vagina, or birth canal, and helps control unpleasant odor. Some women douche to remove sperm after intercourse to help prevent pregnancy, but douching does not prevent pregnancy and should not be used as a form of birth control. Others douche after intercourse to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, but doctors warn that the only way to prevent STDs is to practice safe sex by being faithful to your partner, using latex condoms and avoiding contact with bodily fluids.
Risk of Infection
The vagina cleans itself by producing discharge that removes old cells while maintaining a population of good and bad bacteria. Douching changes the delicate balance of bacteria and yeast in the vagina and can increase your risk of developing an infection. If you douche to treat a vaginal discharge that smells foul or looks different, you could push infection-causing bacteria up into such reproductive organs as the cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes. During pregnancy, this puts your baby at risk of contracting the infection.
Getting Pregnant
Douching may also affect your ability to become pregnant. Pregnancy.org reports on research that shows women who douche frequently, more than once a week, have a lower pregnancy rate than women who do not douche. Douching also increases your risk for an ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy in which the fertilized egg attaches to the fallopian tube instead of the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies are not viable and can be life-threatening. Scarring or the destruction of the fallopian tube can affect your ability to become pregnant.
Pre-Term Birth
A study published in the February 2007 issue of the “American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology” analyzed the effects of douching on birth outcomes. The study found that women who douched during pregnancy had an increased risk of delivering their baby pre-term, meaning before 37 weeks of pregnancy. The pre-term labor may occur as a result of a bacterial infection, as a study published in the November 2007 issue of “Fertility and Sterility” reports that women with vaginal bacterial infections have a two-fold increased risk of pre-term birth.
References
- American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology: Vaginal Douching and Risk of Pre-term Birth Among African-American Women
- Fertility and Sterility: First Trimester Bacterial Vaginosis, Individual Microorganism Levels and Risk of Second Trimester Pregnancy Loss Among Urban Women
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women’s Health: Douching Fact Sheet
- Pregnancy.org: Douching During Pregnancy
