Vaginal douches may consist of water, water mixed with
vinegar, or even
antiseptic chemicals. Douching has been touted as having a number of supposed but unproven benefits. In addition to promising to clean the vagina of unwanted odors, it can also be used by women whose partners wish to avoid contact with menstrual blood while having
sexual intercourse during menstruation. In the past, douching was also used after intercourse as a method of
birth control, though it is not effective. Many health-care professionals state that douching is dangerous, as it interferes with both the vagina's normal self-cleaning and with the natural bacterial culture of the vagina, and it might spread or introduce infections. Douching is implicated in a wide variety of dangers, including: adverse pregnancy outcomes including
ectopic pregnancy,
low birth weight, preterm labor,
preterm birth, and
chorioamnionitis; serious gynecologic outcomes, including increased risk of
cervical cancer,
pelvic inflammatory disease,
endometritis, and increased risk for
sexually transmitted infections, including
HIV; it also predisposes women to develop
bacterial vaginosis (BV), which is further associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and increased risk of sexually transmitted infections. Due to this, the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services strongly discourages douching, citing the risks of irritation, bacterial vaginosis, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Frequent douching with water may result in an imbalance of the
pH of the vagina, and thus may put women at risk for possible vaginal infections, especially yeast infections. In May 2003, a randomized, controlled, multi-center study was conducted with 1827 women ages 18–44 who were regular users of a douche product and who had been treated recently for a sexually transmitted bacterial infection or bacterial vaginosis. Women were randomly assigned to use either a newly designed and marketed douche product or a soft cloth towelette. There was little or no indication of a greater risk of PID among women assigned to use the douche product (versus soft cloth towelette). nozzle with the vaginal nozzle (shown bottom left). The vaginal nozzle is longer and thicker and has lateral holes Antiseptics used during douching disturb the natural balance of bacteria in the vagina and can cause infections. Unclean douching equipment may introduce foreign bodies into the vagina. Douching may also wash bacteria into the
uterus and
fallopian tubes, causing fertility problems. For these reasons, the practice of douching is now strongly discouraged except when ordered by a physician for medical reasons. In comparison, proper male
condom use reduces the chance of conception by as much as 98%. In some cases douching may force the
ejaculate further into the vagina, increasing the chance of pregnancy. A review of studies by researchers at the
University of Rochester Medical Center (N.Y.) showed that women who douched regularly and later became pregnant had higher rates of
ectopic pregnancy,
infections, and low birth weight infants than women who only douched occasionally or who never douched. ==Slang uses==