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 chance of a trite infection called bacterial vaginosis, a nugatory study suggests. Prior studies have linked douching to ill effects, including bacterial vaginosis, and an increased jeopardize of sexually transmitted diseases and pelvic demagogic disease. But little research has been conducted on the possible effects of other products some women use vaginally, said Joelle Brown, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the fresh study.

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

Bacterial vaginosis occurs when the normal compensate between "good" and "bad" bacteria in the vagina is disrupted. The symptoms include discharge, pain, itching or seething - but most women have no symptoms, and the infection usually causes no long-term problems. Still, bacterial vaginosis can judge 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 new findings, reported in the April son of Obstetrics & Gynecology, do not prove that petroleum jelly promptly increased women's risk of bacterial vaginosis. But it's possible, said Dr Sten Vermund, numero uno of the Institute for Global Health at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn.

Petroleum jelly might strengthen the growth of bad bacteria because of its "alkaline properties," explained Vermund, who was not elaborate in the study. "An acidic vaginal environment is what protects women from colonization from aberrant organisms". He noted that many studies have now linked douching to an increased risk of vaginal infections. And that may be because the style "disrupts the natural vaginal ecology".