Recommendations for women’s health and safety

Don’t believe in any standardized requirements that “all women must do/cannot do”. Put your own actual feelings first, and make dynamic adjustments based on the recommendations of evidence-based medicine, and you will not make a big mistake.

I’ve been doing women’s health science for almost seven years, and I’ve also spent two years offline with a teacher at a gynecology clinic. I’ve seen too many girls who treat the “gold standard of health” on the Internet as edicts, and end up causing problems for themselves. For example, I just accompanied an old reader to a follow-up consultation last week. She watched a short video platform that said, "You can love yourself by washing your private parts with antibacterial lotion every day." After washing for a month, the normal flora was washed out, and the itching made her restless. It was only after she came to the hospital that she learned that the vagina itself has a self-purifying function, and washing it indiscriminately will destroy the balance. Of course, this does not mean that all lotions cannot be used. There are currently two opinions in the industry. One is the mainstream gynecological guideline that recommends that if there is no discomfort in daily life, it is enough to rinse the vulva with warm water every day, and there is no need to even use soap. ； On the other hand, some clinicians who focus on reproductive health will also mention that if there is a lot of secretion before and after menstruation, or if you feel sticky and uncomfortable after having sex, it is perfectly fine to use a mild care solution with a pH value between 3.8-4.4 once in a while. The core principle is "do not irrigate the inside of the vagina, and do not use it frequently if there is no discomfort." Both views are supported by clinical data. There is no need to argue about right or wrong, just whatever suits you.

Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered a girl who came for consultation a while ago. She said that she read popular science and said that wearing underwired underwear will cause breast cancer. She was so scared that she threw away all the underwired underwear at home and bought a bunch of loose underwired styles. As a result, her chest pain became more severe after wearing it for half a month. There was no problem when she went for a breast ultrasound. The underwear was not supportive enough and pulled the suspensory ligament of the breast. In fact, there is always controversy about the choice of underwear. Some people think that underwire bras will compress the lymph nodes and breast glands, which may cause problems if worn for a long time. Others feel that underwireless underwear has insufficient support and is more likely to cause breast sagging. The general view of the breast doctors I have contacted is that there is nothing that is "must be worn". The style, as long as you don’t feel strangled when you wear it, don’t sweat and get rashes, and don’t have red marks when you take it off after wearing it for 8 hours, it doesn’t matter whether it has wires or not, or even a sports bra for daily wear. Instead, you don’t have to force yourself to wear a “corrective style” that doesn’t fit your breast shape, which is more likely to cause problems. Oh, yes, there is also the issue of cleaning underwear. Many people say that you must wash it by hand, otherwise the bacteria in the washing machine will stick to the underwear and cause inflammation. In fact, this is not absolute. If you do not have gynecological inflammation, clean the washing machine regularly, add a special laundry bag when washing, and use clothing disinfectant. Machine washing is no problem. ； But if you are suffering from problems such as fungal vaginitis, it is best to wash it by hand alone. After washing, expose it to the sun for more than 4 hours, which can kill most of the remaining Candida.

Another thing that people ask a lot about is about physical examinations and vaccines. Many girls panic and get tested for HPV every year when they turn 20. When they find out positive, they feel like the sky is falling. They cry and ask me if they are going to get cervical cancer. In fact, according to the latest guidelines, women under the age of 25 have relatively strong immunity. Most HPV infections are transient and can turn negative on their own in 1-2 years. There is no need to check every year. On the contrary, finding out positive will only increase anxiety. ； It is enough to do TCT every 3 years between the ages of 25 and 30. If you are over 30 years old, consider combined TCT and HPV screening, which is done every 2-3 years. There is also the question of whether the nine-valent vaccine can be taken if you are overage. A 34-year-old reader asked me before, saying that if you can’t get the nine-price vaccine, the four-price vaccine is useless. Hey, don’t tell me, this saying that “it’s a waste if you are overage” really fools a lot of people. In fact, as long as you are under 45 years old, you can’t get it. If you are afraid that you have had sex or even been infected with certain HPV subtypes, vaccination can protect against other subtypes that are not infected. The nine-price vaccine is less than the fourth-price vaccine or the second-price vaccine. The protective effect is not as bad as everyone thinks. It is better than waiting for the nine-price vaccine and delaying protection.

As for the "list of must-take supplements for women" that is so popular on the Internet, I really advise you not to believe it. I have stepped into the trap before. Last year, I saw many bloggers saying that women are prone to iron deficiency and should take iron gummies every day. I followed the trend and bought three large bottles. Within two weeks of taking it, I became constipated to the point that even drinking probiotics for three days was useless. After a blood test, I found out that my hemoglobin is normal. I also like to eat duck blood and pork liver every day. I am not deficient in iron at all. Taking too much iron gummy will increase the burden on my gastrointestinal tract. There has always been a lot of controversy about supplements, such as collagen drinks. Some dermatologists believe that oral collagen is broken down into amino acids when it reaches the stomach and cannot reach the skin at all. Pure IQ tax ； Some medical aesthetic doctors will also mention that clinical experiments have proven that drinking small-molecule collagen peptides can indeed increase the moisture content of the skin and improve the problem of dryness. In this case, don’t listen to other people’s nonsense. Try it for a month. After drinking it, your skin feels really comfortable. If you have enough budget, you can continue drinking it. If you don’t feel it after drinking it, save the money and buy two kilograms of pig trotters stewed with soybeans. It tastes good and you can supplement some protein. You won’t lose anything.

To be honest, after doing science popularization for so long, my biggest feeling is that the female body has never been a standardized product, and there are no rules that everyone must abide by. Some people will have dysmenorrhea after drinking iced milk tea, some people will have no problem eating popsicles in winter, some people will have no problem using lotion every day, and some people will be allergic after using it once. Your feelings are the highest criterion. If you are really uncomfortable, don’t go to the Internet to scare yourself, go to a regular tertiary A hospital to register, it is more reliable than anything else.