The effect of vaginal douching on Pap-Smear

Abstract

Objective: Vaginal douching damages vaginal flora and ecosystem. The disruption of the equilibrium of vaginal flora composition leads to many outcomes having a negative effect on women and newborn health.Materials and methods: 105 patients who applied vaginal douche were included in this study. All women taken of Pap smear test and the patients were informed in writing about the reasons why they must leave their vaginal douching habits, and a second Pap smear appointment day not earlier than 30 days were given. After taken of patients first Pap smears, none of them took an infection treatment. Pap smear results taken before and after vaginal douche have been compared.Results: It was seen in the detailed comparison of Pap smear outcomes that the rate of patients with violent inflammation decreased from 11.4% to 1.9%. The decrease in violent inflammation was found statistically significant (p=0.006). When the patients with infection were compared regardless of any discrimination of slightly or violent; the rate of the cases with typical infection findings was seen to decrease from 48.5% to 31.4% and found statistically significant (p=0.01).Conclusions: Vaginal flora is a very complex and dynamic component and is under the influence of many factors. Vaginal douching damages vaginal flora structure and balance, and adversely affects women’s health in a wide range from a simple vaginal infection to cervical neoplasia.