This chapter introduces the topic of vaginal discharge, explaining its common occurrence and variations in amount, consistency, color, and smell depending on factors such as menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and sexual arousal.

Introduction to Vaginal Discharge

In this chapter, the focus is on the different colors of vaginal discharge, discussing their meanings, normality, and whether self-care or medical attention is required. The color yellow-green is specifically highlighted as abnormal and potentially indicative of an STI.

Different Colors of Vaginal Discharge

This chapter delves into the topic of yellow-green vaginal discharge, identifying it as a symptom of Trichomonas vaginalis, a parasitic STI known as trichomoniasis. The prevalence, symptoms, and treatment of trichomoniasis are discussed.

Yellow-Green Vaginal Discharge and Trichomoniasis

This chapter explores the causes and significance of red or pink vaginal discharge. It covers normal occurrences such as menstruation and post-sex bleeding, as well as potential concerns like implantation bleeding, early miscarriage, and endometrial cancer.

Red or Pink Vaginal Discharge

The focus of this chapter is on cream or white vaginal discharge, which is often associated with thrush, a yeast infection. The causes, symptoms, and treatment of thrush are explained, including the importance of proper hygiene and antifungal medications.

Cream or White Vaginal Discharge and Thrush

This chapter discusses grey vaginal discharge, which is commonly associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV). The causes, symptoms, and treatment of BV are covered, emphasizing the importance of maintaining vaginal pH balance and seeking medical advice.

Grey Vaginal Discharge and Bacterial Vaginosis

The final chapter focuses on clear vaginal discharge, which is considered normal. It provides self-care tips for maintaining vaginal health, including hygiene practices, safe sex, and when to seek medical attention for abnormal discharge or related symptoms.

Clear Vaginal Discharge and Self-Care Tips

# Understanding Vaginal Discharge: Part 2

In the previous newsletter, we discussed the different types of vaginal discharge and what they mean. Today, we will continue our discussion by exploring the various colors of vaginal discharge and their significance. It's important to remember that vaginal discharge is a normal bodily function, but certain colors may indicate an underlying issue.

## Yellow-Green Discharge

- Yellow-green discharge is not normal and may be a sign of an STI, specifically trichomoniasis.
- Trichomoniasis is caused by a parasite called Trichomonas vaginalis and is usually transmitted through unprotected sex.
- If you experience frothy yellow-green discharge with an offensive smell, burning or stinging during urination, soreness around the vagina, or itching, it's important to get tested at a sexual health clinic.
- Trichomoniasis is treatable with antibiotics, but it's crucial to inform your current and previous sexual partners to ensure proper treatment.

## Red or Pink Discharge

- Red or pink discharge can be normal or abnormal, depending on the circumstances.
- If you experience red or pink discharge around the time of your expected period, it's likely normal and caused by menstrual blood.
- Towards the end of your period, the discharge may become dark brown due to oxidized blood.
- If you notice pink or red discharge shortly after sex or in between periods, it could be due to friction or spotting.
- However, if you're expecting your period, had unprotected sex, and experience pink or red discharge, it's essential to take a pregnancy test as it could be an implantation bleed.
- Pregnant women or those in early pregnancy who notice blood-stained or pink discharge should seek medical advice as it could indicate an early miscarriage.
- Post-menopausal women who experience pink or red discharge should see a doctor as it could be a sign of endometrial cancer.

## Cream or White Discharge

- Thick, clumpy white discharge is often indicative of a yeast infection or thrush.
- Yeast is normally present in the vagina, but its growth can be triggered by factors such as antibiotics or hormonal changes.
- Other symptoms of thrush may include vulval itching, burning, redness, and discomfort during sex.
- Treatment for thrush usually involves antifungal medication in the form of tablets, pessaries, or creams.
- In some cases, even if you don't have symptoms, it's recommended to treat thrush, especially during pregnancy.

## Grey Discharge

- Grey discharge is commonly associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV), which is not a sexually transmitted infection but is sexually associated.
- BV occurs when there is a change in the pH of the vagina, leading to an overgrowth of certain bacteria.
- The discharge is typically odorless or may have a fishy smell.
- BV can be treated with antibiotics in the form of tablets, gel, or cream.

## Clear Discharge

- Clear discharge is considered normal and varies in consistency and amount depending on factors such as ovulation, sexual arousal, and breastfeeding.
- It may have a slightly acidic smell or no odor at all.
- Clear discharge does not usually require treatment unless accompanied by itching, burning, or irritation.

## Self-Care Tips

To reduce the risk of abnormal vaginal discharge, follow these self-care tips:

- Practice good personal hygiene by washing the vulva daily. Avoid douching or using perfumed soaps, bubble baths, vaginal deodorants, or feminine wipes.
- Practice safe sex by using condoms to protect against STIs.
- Wear cotton underwear to allow for better air circulation and prevent moisture buildup.

## When to See a Doctor

While most vaginal discharge is normal, there are instances when you should consult a doctor:

- Regular bleeding in between periods
- Blood-stained discharge after menopause
- Unusual vaginal discharge, such as yellow-green or grey
- Discharge accompanied by fever, lower abdominal pain, or feeling unwell

Remember, it's important to prioritize your health and not let embarrassment prevent you from seeking medical help. If you have any concerns or questions, don't hesitate to consult a healthcare professional.

Stay tuned for our next newsletter, where we will discuss common misconceptions about vaginal discharge and provide additional self-care tips.

If you found this newsletter informative, please share it with others and feel free to leave any comments or questions below. We value your feedback!


Understanding Vaginal Discharge: Part 2

- Vaginal discharge is common and can vary in amount, consistency, color, and smell.
- Yellow-green discharge may indicate an STI called trichomoniasis or gonorrhea.
- Frothy yellow-green discharge is characteristic of trichomoniasis, which is the most common non-viral STI worldwide.
- 50% of women with trichomoniasis have no symptoms, making it easily spread.
- Treatment for trichomoniasis involves antibiotics for both the affected person and their sexual partners.
- Red or pink discharge can be normal during menstruation or shortly after sex.
- Intermenstrual bleeding or spotting may indicate a need to see a doctor.
- Pink or red discharge around the time of expected period could be implantation bleeding, indicating pregnancy.
- Pink or blood-stained discharge in early pregnancy may be a sign of miscarriage.
- Pink or tinged discharge in menopause may be a sign of endometrial cancer and should be evaluated by a doctor.
- Thick clumpy white discharge is likely thrush (yeast infection), which can occur after a course of antibiotics.
- Thrush may cause vulval itching, burning, stinging, and discomfort during sex.

- The video discusses different types of vaginal discharge and their causes.
- Thrush can cause painful sex and may need to be treated, especially during pregnancy.
- Thrush is treated with antifungal medication in the form of tablets, pessaries, or creams.
- Cream or white discharge may be normal if it is not associated with itching, burning, or a strong smell.
- Gray discharge is a common sign of bacterial vaginosis, which is not a sexually transmitted infection but is associated with sexual activity.
- Bacterial vaginosis is caused by a change in the pH of the vagina and can be treated with antibiotics.
- Clear discharge is normal and varies in consistency depending on the menstrual cycle.
- Tips for reducing the risk of abnormal discharge include practicing good personal hygiene, using condoms for safe sex, and wearing cotton underwear.
- See a doctor if experiencing bleeding between periods, bloodstained discharge after menopause, or unusual discharge with fever or abdominal pain.

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Welcome to my channel where we talk about everything: Skin & Women's Health 
▶In this video:
00:00 Intro
1:12 Yellow-green discharge
4:19 Red discharge
8:10 White discharge
11:04 Grey discharge
12:22 Clear discharge
13:21 Top Tips for Selfcare
15:41 See a doctor if...

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Treating Acne, Dark Spots, Hyperpigmentation in Black Skin | Dark Skin - Dr Simi Adedeji
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How to Delay Your Period? Risks, Complications, Myths & Facts | Norethisterone | Contraceptive Pill
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Period Signs NOT to Ignore | Bleeding After Sex | Stopped Periods | Spotting Between Periods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vCwD...
Does My VAGINA Smell Normal? Causes & Treatments | Thrush, Bacterial Vaginosis, Smelly Discharge STI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Agj4...

▶Dr Simi Adedeji
Former Surgeon | Current GP and Cosmetic Doctor
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#VaginalDischarge #VaginalDischargeColour #Discharge

Disclaimer: The Video Content on this channel is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen on this youtube channel. The statements made about specific products throughout this video are not to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.

It can happen at any age, but it's more common after puberty.

And it will vary in amount, consistency, colour, smell, depending on whereabouts you are in your menstrual cycle and also depending on whether you are pregnant, ovulating, sexually aroused, it changes all the time.

But what happens when the color is completely different to what your usual vaginal discharge is or it's just something that you're not expecting?

In this video we will be talking about the different colors of vaginal discharge.

And actually, can you just treat yourself at home and focus on self-care, or is it time to just ditch that and go and see your doctor?

Simi, former surgeon, current GP and cosmetic doctor.

Welcome to my channel where we discuss all things skin and women's health.

I've already done a video where I talk about the different types of smells that can be associated with vaginal discharge, and you can watch that video here.

This video though, the main focus is about the color of the vaginal discharge.

So the first color that I want to focus on is yellow green.

My alarm bells are ringing and I'm thinking to myself STI.

The STI that characteristically gives a frothy yellow green vaginal discharge is this little guy here.

This is a microorganism or a parasite that causes the STI that's called trichomoniasis.

This is usually caught by having sex without a condom with somebody that is infected with Trichomonas vaginalis.

Comment down below if you've never heard of Trichomonas vaginalis because when I mention it to my patients most of them have never heard of it.

They've heard of other STIs so chlamydia, gonorrhea, genital herpes but they've never heard of TV which is really interesting because it's the commonest non-viral STI in the world.

More than 270 million cases of Trichomonas vaginalis occurred in 2008 And that was more than the total combined numbers of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases.

And the thing that's a little bit worrying about it is the fact that some women don't even know that they've got Trichomonas vaginalis.

So 50% of women that are affected don't have any symptoms and of course if you don't have any symptoms and you're having unprotected sex you don't realize that you are spreading the infection to other people.

When symptoms do occur though they're really characteristics so as I've mentioned you get that frothy yellow green vaginal discharge.

It can smell quite offensive as well and there can be other symptoms so for example burning and stinging when passing urine, soreness around the lips of the vagina, and itching around the vagina as well.

If you have got these symptoms, you'd need to go and get yourself checked out in a sexual health clinic.

In the UK we call these gum clinics, but most countries will have something similar.

The good news is that Trichomonas vaginalis is treatable.

Treatment for this is actually antibiotics which both you and your current sexual partner will need to take as well as your previous partner or partners in the last 4 weeks.

Also once you've had the antibiotics you'll need to avoid sex for at least 1 week whilst you're taking them.

The other STI that can give a yellow discharge is gonorrhoea.

So again gonorrhoea is another sexually transmitted infection that in women can be what we call asymptomatic, i.e.

It doesn't give symptoms so you don't know that you have it.

So 50% of women don't have any symptoms if they've got gonorrhoea.

And this means that it can go untreated for a long time.

In the women that do have symptoms, though, you can get this yellow vaginal discharge and get abdominal pain or pelvic pain.

There can be burning and stinging when you're passing urine, intermenstrual bleeding, can also cause pain during sex.

Pain during sex is actually really common, so much so that I've made a video about it for you here and I discuss all the common causes.

I also give recommendation and tips for how to improve the condition.

The next discharge I want to talk about is red or pink.

This can be normal or abnormal, it depends on the circumstances.

So for example, if you are having a red or a pink discharge around the time that you're expecting your period, then this could just be completely normal.

It means that there is blood around and that's what's causing the red and the pink colour of the discharge.

You know what I mean, you know, we've all been there.

You go to the toilet, you wipe and you look at the tissue and you're like, yep, she's coming and I'm going to be wearing black knickers from tomorrow.

Towards the end of the period, a lot of women though find that the discharge becomes more of a kind of like a dark brownie colour and this is because the flow of the blood is so slow and the blood is hanging around for much longer in the vagina, it's becoming oxidised and this is giving that brown or dark red tinge to the vaginal discharge.

This is nothing to worry about, you don't need any treatment and it usually clears up when your period has completely finished.

Another time when you can get a pink discharge or a red discharge is shortly after sex.

I'm talking about kind of within the first 24 hours, sometimes even within the first 30 minutes.

This can be due to the fact that during sex there's friction so you can have tiny cuts and scrapes in the vagina which bleed and then cause the vaginal discharge to be like a pinky or tinged colour.

Sometimes some women experience a pinky discharge or red discharge or just frank blood in between their periods.

So they're not expecting their periods, let's say for another few weeks, but they're getting a discharge that's looking like their period is about to come.

So this is called spotting, and in medical terms we would call it intermenstrual bleeding, so bleeding in between your periods.

Sometimes intermenstrual bleeding is a sign that you need to go and see your doctor, so have a look at my video about 7 signs that something might be wrong with your period, where I give more information about that.

So there are some circumstances where having a pink or red vaginal discharge starts to ring my alarm bells.

The first example is if you're expecting your period and you've also recently had unprotected sex, So I'm talking about sex without a condom.

And then you get this pink or red vaginal discharge around the time when your period would normally come.

That is ringing my alarm bells because you could be pregnant.

So this tinge of pink or red that you're seeing that you think might be the beginning of your period could actually be something called an implantation bleed.

What happens with that is that your uterus has been preparing itself to have a period so the lining is nice and thick and it's got lots of blood vessels and it's nice and plump.

And then along comes a fertilized egg and it attaches itself to this nice plump lining and it burrows itself in and this causes tiny amounts of bleeding which you may then see as a pink vaginal discharge.

And you may think, oh okay cool, my period's coming soon.

No, you may not see that period for another 9 months or so because you're pregnant.

So if this is you, you're in a situation where you're seeing a pink vaginal discharge, it's not your normal period, you're a little bit late for your period and you know you had unprotected sex, the best thing to do is get a pregnancy test so you know whether you're pregnant or not.

The second 1 that rings my alarm bells is if you are already pregnant or in early pregnancy and you start noticing a blood stained or a pink vaginal discharge.

This could be a sign of an early miscarriage.

So in this situation, you definitely want to seek medical advice urgently.

The third example is if you have entered menopause.

So if you're a woman who hasn't had a period for like a year or close on a year and then suddenly you start getting vaginal discharge that's pink or tinged with red, even if it's not frank bleeding, that is a worrying sign because it could be a sign of endometrial cancer.

So please go and see your doctor so that you can have the appropriate tests and have the diagnosis made and have early treatment if necessary.

The next 1 is cream or white vaginal discharge.

If you have a thick clumpy white vaginal discharge this is most likely going to be thrush.

And it's not that the yeast has suddenly come and infected the vagina.

It normally lives there anyway, but its growth is kind of controlled because there are other bacteria that are competing, good bacteria that also live in the vagina.

If there's ever a situation where those competitive bacteria that are living in the vagina are killed off, such as when you have a course of antibiotics, then the yeast are like, it's time to come out and play and they overgrow.

And this is what's giving that kind of white cottage cheese like discharge.

Actually, I'm not sure who was the first person to describe this discharge as looking like cottage cheese, but it's a really spot-on description, so I love it.

I'm really sorry if I've put anybody off having cottage cheese for the rest of their life.

This is not the only type of discharge that you can have with thrush.

It doesn't always look like cottage cheese.

Sometimes it can look like cream or double cream.

Oh my god, I'm literally using all of these different food analogies that's probably putting people off food.

So again, really sorry if you now no longer want to put cream or double cream on your dessert.

Not all women are aware when they have thrush, so some women can have thrush and have no symptoms.

So there've been situations where I've had to do a gynecological examination on a patient and I've put the speculum in and I've had a look and I'm like, oh, it looks like you've got thrush.

And the woman's like, oh, I didn't realise that I had thrush because she didn't have any symptoms.

If you do get symptoms with thrush, the common ones are vulval itching or burning or stinging and sometimes the lips of the vagina can actually look red and swollen.

It can be uncomfortable to sit down, it can be uncomfortable to have sex.

So this is another cause of dyspareunia, painful sex.

Sometimes if there's just small amounts of thrush and it's not causing you any symptoms, it doesn't necessarily need to be treated because it can clear up by itself.

But there are some situations in which even if you don't have symptoms, if you're found to have thrush, we recommend that you treat it.

And 1 of those conditions is during pregnancy.

So we treat thrush with antifungal or anti-yeast medication.

And this comes in the forms of tablets, pessaries and creams.

A quick note about the tablets and the pessaries.

Please take note because this 1 goes in your mouth and this 1 goes in the vagina.

So you don't want to get those 2 mixed up.

Cream or white vaginal discharge can also be normal, especially if it's not associated with itching or burning or stinging and if your usual vaginal discharge is cream or white and it doesn't have an offensive smell and they're only small amounts.

So it doesn't always mean that you've got thrush if you have a cream or white discharge.

The next vaginal discharge we're talking about is grey.

Characteristically this is a common type of discharge that you get if you've got bacterial vaginosis.

So bacterial vaginosis is not a sexually transmitted infection, it's classed as a sexually associated infection and what all that's saying really is that you don't tend to get BV if you've never had sex and it's not caused by having sex but it's associated with women that have sex.

The main thing that contributes to having BV is a change in the pH of the vagina.

So the pH rises, it becomes more alkaline, maybe due to, for example, washing inside the vagina with certain soaps, douching, using perfume products, all of these change the pH of the vagina and cause an overgrowth of a certain type of bacteria, which then gives this gray discharge.

It's usually not associated with itching or irritation, although some women can experience that as well.

The other characteristic thing about this discharge is that it has a fishy smell.

Some women also notice that the smell is stronger after they've just had a shower and washed down below with soap or after sex.

If you have this kind of discharge, please see your doctor because it can be treated.

The way that we treat it is with antibiotics, either as tablets, gel or as a cream.

The final colour of vaginal discharge I want to talk about is clear.

So this is your normal vaginal discharge and it can have no smell or odour or it can have a slightly acidic smell and it varies in amount and in consistency depending on where you are in your period cycle.

If you are ovulating, sexually aroused or breastfeeding you can have more of this kind of discharge.

The discharge changes in consistency So at times it's more kind of stringy and stretchy and watery and other times it thickens up and it can be a little bit kind of snotty or it can be more runny and stringy and a bit more like egg white.

This doesn't need any treatment especially if it's not associated with any itching or burning or irritation of the vulva.

Now that we've gone through all the different types of colors that you can get a vaginal discharge, I want to talk to you about what you can do at home to help yourself to reduce your risk of having abnormal vaginal discharge or when to just go and see a doctor.

To reduce your risk of having abnormal vaginal discharge, practice good personal hygiene.

So what I mean by that is, make sure that you are washing the vulva daily.

Avoid in douches where you're washing inside the vagina because this changes the pH and can cause you to have BV and the discharge that's associated with BV.

Avoid kind of perfume soaps, bubble baths, vaginal deodorants, fem fresh or feminine wipes.

All of these can increase your chance of having that great discharge that's associated with having bacterial vaginosis.

Some of these can also predispose you to having thrush.

I know for some of you you're going to be like I don't need to be told this but not everybody knows but when you've gone to the toilet and you've done your pee, wipe from front to back.

Because what you don't want to be doing is transferring all of the bacteria from the anus towards or into the vagina because that can give you an abnormal vaginal discharge.

So in the past, and I've said this to some women, they've gone, yeah, yeah, I'm practicing safe sex.

I've got my contraception, I've got my pill.

I'm talking about protecting yourself from getting an STI and the only thing that's going to do that is a condom So as well as your usual pill or implant or whatever contraceptive method you've chosen You also need to use a condom to prevent STIs such as Trichomonas vaginalis.

So sometimes this 1 seems like a fluffy 1, you know, like, oh, wear cotton underwear, everything's gonna be nice and fresh and down there.

It kind of is, but it also kind of isn't because synthetic underwear is more associated with kind of sweating and moisture down there, and that can encourage the growth of certain bacteria or yeast to give you thrush.

So this is why we recommend wearing cotton underwear.

There are some instances when you just need to ditch the self-care and go and see your doctor.

So those instances are if you are having bleeding in between your periods regularly, if you're having a bloodstain discharge after menopause, or if you've got unusual vaginal discharge such as that green yellow discharge that I've mentioned.

Other instances are if you have a discharge that's associated with a fever or feeling unwell, crampy lower abdominal pain, then you really need to be seeing your doctor so that you can have a proper assessment and a diagnosis of the cause.

I hope that you have found that video really informative and please don't be embarrassed.

I say this a lot in my videos when I'm talking about women's health because I think that we don't like discussing certain things because we feel that we may be judged.

Don't let embarrassment stop you from taking control of your own health and going to see your doctor.

For most doctors there is nothing we haven't seen or heard so it's quite difficult to embarrass us and I think you're often more embarrassed about having to tell the story of what's happened.

If you are having an abnormal vaginal discharge that is your body's way of telling you that something is up so go and seek the right help.

If you found this video useful please share it and of course comment below I love reading your comments and I'm happy to answer any questions that you've got.


Speaker 0: Vaginal discharge is really common. It can happen at any age, but it's more common after puberty. And it will vary in amount, consistency, colour, smell, depending on whereabouts you are in your menstrual cycle and also depending on whether you are pregnant, ovulating, sexually aroused, it changes all the time. But what happens when the color is completely different to what your usual vaginal discharge is or it's just something that you're not expecting? In this video we will be talking about the different colors of vaginal discharge.

What do they mean? Are they normal? And actually, can you just treat yourself at home and focus on self-care, or is it time to just ditch that and go and see your doctor? Hi ladies, I'm Dr. Simi, former surgeon, current GP and cosmetic doctor.

Welcome to my channel where we discuss all things skin and women's health. I've already done a video where I talk about the different types of smells that can be associated with vaginal discharge, and you can watch that video here. This video though, the main focus is about the color of the vaginal discharge. So the first color that I want to focus on is yellow green. Okay, this is not normal.

My alarm bells are ringing and I'm thinking to myself STI. The STI that characteristically gives a frothy yellow green vaginal discharge is this little guy here. So say hello to Trichomonas vaginalis. This is a microorganism or a parasite that causes the STI that's called trichomoniasis. This is usually caught by having sex without a condom with somebody that is infected with Trichomonas vaginalis.

Comment down below if you've never heard of Trichomonas vaginalis because when I mention it to my patients most of them have never heard of it. They've heard of other STIs so chlamydia, gonorrhea, genital herpes but they've never heard of TV which is really interesting because it's the commonest non-viral STI in the world. More than 270 million cases of Trichomonas vaginalis occurred in 2008 And that was more than the total combined numbers of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases. I'm just going to let that sink in. 270 million.

And the thing that's a little bit worrying about it is the fact that some women don't even know that they've got Trichomonas vaginalis. So 50% of women that are affected don't have any symptoms and of course if you don't have any symptoms and you're having unprotected sex you don't realize that you are spreading the infection to other people. When symptoms do occur though they're really characteristics so as I've mentioned you get that frothy yellow green vaginal discharge. It can smell quite offensive as well and there can be other symptoms so for example burning and stinging when passing urine, soreness around the lips of the vagina, and itching around the vagina as well. If you have got these symptoms, you'd need to go and get yourself checked out in a sexual health clinic.

In the UK we call these gum clinics, but most countries will have something similar. The good news is that Trichomonas vaginalis is treatable. Treatment for this is actually antibiotics which both you and your current sexual partner will need to take as well as your previous partner or partners in the last 4 weeks. Also once you've had the antibiotics you'll need to avoid sex for at least 1 week whilst you're taking them. The other STI that can give a yellow discharge is gonorrhoea.

So again gonorrhoea is another sexually transmitted infection that in women can be what we call asymptomatic, i.e. It doesn't give symptoms so you don't know that you have it. So 50% of women don't have any symptoms if they've got gonorrhoea. And this means that it can go untreated for a long time. In the women that do have symptoms, though, you can get this yellow vaginal discharge and get abdominal pain or pelvic pain.

There can be burning and stinging when you're passing urine, intermenstrual bleeding, can also cause pain during sex. Pain during sex is actually really common, so much so that I've made a video about it for you here and I discuss all the common causes. I also give recommendation and tips for how to improve the condition. The next discharge I want to talk about is red or pink. This can be normal or abnormal, it depends on the circumstances.

So for example, if you are having a red or a pink discharge around the time that you're expecting your period, then this could just be completely normal. It means that there is blood around and that's what's causing the red and the pink colour of the discharge. You know what I mean, you know, we've all been there. You go to the toilet, you wipe and you look at the tissue and you're like, yep, she's coming and I'm going to be wearing black knickers from tomorrow. Towards the end of the period, a lot of women though find that the discharge becomes more of a kind of like a dark brownie colour and this is because the flow of the blood is so slow and the blood is hanging around for much longer in the vagina, it's becoming oxidised and this is giving that brown or dark red tinge to the vaginal discharge.

This is nothing to worry about, you don't need any treatment and it usually clears up when your period has completely finished. Another time when you can get a pink discharge or a red discharge is shortly after sex. I'm talking about kind of within the first 24 hours, sometimes even within the first 30 minutes. This can be due to the fact that during sex there's friction so you can have tiny cuts and scrapes in the vagina which bleed and then cause the vaginal discharge to be like a pinky or tinged colour. Sometimes some women experience a pinky discharge or red discharge or just frank blood in between their periods.

So they're not expecting their periods, let's say for another few weeks, but they're getting a discharge that's looking like their period is about to come. So this is called spotting, and in medical terms we would call it intermenstrual bleeding, so bleeding in between your periods. Sometimes intermenstrual bleeding is a sign that you need to go and see your doctor, so have a look at my video about 7 signs that something might be wrong with your period, where I give more information about that. So there are some circumstances where having a pink or red vaginal discharge starts to ring my alarm bells. The first example is if you're expecting your period and you've also recently had unprotected sex, So I'm talking about sex without a condom.

And then you get this pink or red vaginal discharge around the time when your period would normally come. That is ringing my alarm bells because you could be pregnant. So this tinge of pink or red that you're seeing that you think might be the beginning of your period could actually be something called an implantation bleed. What happens with that is that your uterus has been preparing itself to have a period so the lining is nice and thick and it's got lots of blood vessels and it's nice and plump. And then along comes a fertilized egg and it attaches itself to this nice plump lining and it burrows itself in and this causes tiny amounts of bleeding which you may then see as a pink vaginal discharge.

And you may think, oh okay cool, my period's coming soon. No, you may not see that period for another 9 months or so because you're pregnant. So if this is you, you're in a situation where you're seeing a pink vaginal discharge, it's not your normal period, you're a little bit late for your period and you know you had unprotected sex, the best thing to do is get a pregnancy test so you know whether you're pregnant or not. The second 1 that rings my alarm bells is if you are already pregnant or in early pregnancy and you start noticing a blood stained or a pink vaginal discharge. This could be a sign of an early miscarriage.

So in this situation, you definitely want to seek medical advice urgently. The third example is if you have entered menopause. So if you're a woman who hasn't had a period for like a year or close on a year and then suddenly you start getting vaginal discharge that's pink or tinged with red, even if it's not frank bleeding, that is a worrying sign because it could be a sign of endometrial cancer. So please go and see your doctor so that you can have the appropriate tests and have the diagnosis made and have early treatment if necessary. The next 1 is cream or white vaginal discharge.

If you have a thick clumpy white vaginal discharge this is most likely going to be thrush. A thrush is a yeast infection. And it's not that the yeast has suddenly come and infected the vagina. The yeast is resident in the vagina. It normally lives there anyway, but its growth is kind of controlled because there are other bacteria that are competing, good bacteria that also live in the vagina.

If there's ever a situation where those competitive bacteria that are living in the vagina are killed off, such as when you have a course of antibiotics, then the yeast are like, it's time to come out and play and they overgrow. And this is what's giving that kind of white cottage cheese like discharge. Actually, I'm not sure who was the first person to describe this discharge as looking like cottage cheese, but it's a really spot-on description, so I love it. Maybe I don't love it. I'm really sorry if I've put anybody off having cottage cheese for the rest of their life.

This is not the only type of discharge that you can have with thrush. It doesn't always look like cottage cheese. Sometimes it can look like cream or double cream. Oh my god, I'm literally using all of these different food analogies that's probably putting people off food. So again, really sorry if you now no longer want to put cream or double cream on your dessert.

But thrush can look like that. Not all women are aware when they have thrush, so some women can have thrush and have no symptoms. And that's quite common. So there've been situations where I've had to do a gynecological examination on a patient and I've put the speculum in and I've had a look and I'm like, oh, it looks like you've got thrush. And the woman's like, oh, I didn't realise that I had thrush because she didn't have any symptoms.

If you do get symptoms with thrush, the common ones are vulval itching or burning or stinging and sometimes the lips of the vagina can actually look red and swollen. It can be uncomfortable to sit down, it can be uncomfortable to have sex. So this is another cause of dyspareunia, painful sex. Sometimes if there's just small amounts of thrush and it's not causing you any symptoms, it doesn't necessarily need to be treated because it can clear up by itself. But there are some situations in which even if you don't have symptoms, if you're found to have thrush, we recommend that you treat it.

And 1 of those conditions is during pregnancy. So we treat thrush with antifungal or anti-yeast medication. And this comes in the forms of tablets, pessaries and creams. A quick note about the tablets and the pessaries. Please take note because this 1 goes in your mouth and this 1 goes in the vagina.

So you don't want to get those 2 mixed up. Cream or white vaginal discharge can also be normal, especially if it's not associated with itching or burning or stinging and if your usual vaginal discharge is cream or white and it doesn't have an offensive smell and they're only small amounts. So it doesn't always mean that you've got thrush if you have a cream or white discharge. The next vaginal discharge we're talking about is grey. Characteristically this is a common type of discharge that you get if you've got bacterial vaginosis.

So bacterial vaginosis is not a sexually transmitted infection, it's classed as a sexually associated infection and what all that's saying really is that you don't tend to get BV if you've never had sex and it's not caused by having sex but it's associated with women that have sex. The main thing that contributes to having BV is a change in the pH of the vagina. So the pH rises, it becomes more alkaline, maybe due to, for example, washing inside the vagina with certain soaps, douching, using perfume products, all of these change the pH of the vagina and cause an overgrowth of a certain type of bacteria, which then gives this gray discharge. It's usually not associated with itching or irritation, although some women can experience that as well. The other characteristic thing about this discharge is that it has a fishy smell.

Some women also notice that the smell is stronger after they've just had a shower and washed down below with soap or after sex. If you have this kind of discharge, please see your doctor because it can be treated. The way that we treat it is with antibiotics, either as tablets, gel or as a cream. The final colour of vaginal discharge I want to talk about is clear. So this is your normal vaginal discharge and it can have no smell or odour or it can have a slightly acidic smell and it varies in amount and in consistency depending on where you are in your period cycle.

If you are ovulating, sexually aroused or breastfeeding you can have more of this kind of discharge. The discharge changes in consistency So at times it's more kind of stringy and stretchy and watery and other times it thickens up and it can be a little bit kind of snotty or it can be more runny and stringy and a bit more like egg white. This doesn't need any treatment especially if it's not associated with any itching or burning or irritation of the vulva. Now that we've gone through all the different types of colors that you can get a vaginal discharge, I want to talk to you about what you can do at home to help yourself to reduce your risk of having abnormal vaginal discharge or when to just go and see a doctor. Let's talk about self-care.

To reduce your risk of having abnormal vaginal discharge, practice good personal hygiene. So what I mean by that is, make sure that you are washing the vulva daily. So Wash the outside of the vagina. Avoid in douches where you're washing inside the vagina because this changes the pH and can cause you to have BV and the discharge that's associated with BV. Avoid kind of perfume soaps, bubble baths, vaginal deodorants, fem fresh or feminine wipes.

All of these can increase your chance of having that great discharge that's associated with having bacterial vaginosis. Some of these can also predispose you to having thrush. I know for some of you you're going to be like I don't need to be told this but not everybody knows but when you've gone to the toilet and you've done your pee, wipe from front to back. Because what you don't want to be doing is transferring all of the bacteria from the anus towards or into the vagina because that can give you an abnormal vaginal discharge. The next tip is practice safe sex.

So in the past, and I've said this to some women, they've gone, yeah, yeah, I'm practicing safe sex. I've got my contraception, I've got my pill. No, that's not safe sex. That will protect you from pregnancy. I'm talking about protecting yourself from getting an STI and the only thing that's going to do that is a condom So as well as your usual pill or implant or whatever contraceptive method you've chosen You also need to use a condom to prevent STIs such as Trichomonas vaginalis.

Wear cotton underwear. So sometimes this 1 seems like a fluffy 1, you know, like, oh, wear cotton underwear, everything's gonna be nice and fresh and down there. It kind of is, but it also kind of isn't because synthetic underwear is more associated with kind of sweating and moisture down there, and that can encourage the growth of certain bacteria or yeast to give you thrush. So this is why we recommend wearing cotton underwear. There are some instances when you just need to ditch the self-care and go and see your doctor.

So those instances are if you are having bleeding in between your periods regularly, if you're having a bloodstain discharge after menopause, or if you've got unusual vaginal discharge such as that green yellow discharge that I've mentioned. Other instances are if you have a discharge that's associated with a fever or feeling unwell, crampy lower abdominal pain, then you really need to be seeing your doctor so that you can have a proper assessment and a diagnosis of the cause. I hope that you have found that video really informative and please don't be embarrassed. I say this a lot in my videos when I'm talking about women's health because I think that we don't like discussing certain things because we feel that we may be judged. Don't let embarrassment stop you from taking control of your own health and going to see your doctor.

For most doctors there is nothing we haven't seen or heard so it's quite difficult to embarrass us and I think you're often more embarrassed about having to tell the story of what's happened. If you are having an abnormal vaginal discharge that is your body's way of telling you that something is up so go and seek the right help. If you found this video useful please share it and of course comment below I love reading your comments and I'm happy to answer any questions that you've got.

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Vaginal Discharge Colours | Is My Discharge Normal:Thrush, Bacterial Vaginosis, STI, Yeast Infection