Gynecological health education content

90% of common gynecological problems in clinical practice can be avoided by three things - don't overly bother with cleaning your private parts, don't ignore the signs of hormone fluctuations, and don't take chances with high-risk sexual behaviors. You don't need to talk about gynecological problems in a negative light, nor do you take them too seriously and turn them into chronic diseases.

Don’t believe it. I just met a 22-year-old girl in the clinic last week. She couldn’t sit still. She said that her private parts had been itching for almost a week and she couldn’t sleep at night. After asking, I found out that she felt that her private parts smelled bad. She bought a fragrant private part shower gel every day and washed her in the morning and evening. She also used a douche to rinse her vagina every time. As a result, she was diagnosed with vulvovaginal candidiasis, which is commonly known as fungal vaginitis. Nowadays, there is a lot of talk on the Internet about private parts cleaning. On one side, various washing and care businesses advocate "deep cleaning to eliminate odor", and various antibacterial lotions and douches are selling hotly. On the other side, the view of evidence-based medicine has long been clear: the vagina itself has a balanced micro-ecosystem, and the resident beneficial bacteria will help you resist the invasion of harmful bacteria. You only need to rinse the vulva with warm water every day. Flushing the inside of the vagina is equivalent to washing away the "ecological protective layer", which is prone to problems. Of course, that doesn’t mean that lotions are completely off limits. If inflammation has been diagnosed, it’s perfectly fine to use the medicinal lotions prescribed by the doctor as directed. I’m afraid that if people use medicinal lotions for daily care, they may get sick even if they don’t have the disease.

As soon as the little girl was sent away, a girl with swollen eyes like peaches came in. She was only 26 years old. She hadn't been to her aunt for half a year and thought she had premature menopause. After asking, I found out that in order to wear a small-size skirt, she had not eaten any staple food for three months. She only ate boiled vegetables and salad every day. She had lost 20 pounds, and her aunt had also lost her weight. Regarding the treatment of irregular menstruation, the judgment logic of different medical systems is indeed different: Traditional Chinese medicine saw that her face was sallow and her hands and feet were cold, so she judged that she had a deficiency of qi and blood, and she needed to adjust her diet to replenish qi and blood. ； The hormone examination results of Western medicine showed that she was suffering from hypothalamic function suppression due to excessive dieting, insufficient secretion of sex hormones, and amenorrhea due to the inability of the endometrium to grow. The conditioning plans of the two sides are different, but the core consensus is to return to a normal diet and rest first, and not to take progesterone to stimulate menstruation without having to come up. There is no need to buy "menstruation miracle drugs" that cost hundreds of dollars per box online. It is more important to find the cause first than anything else. I have met too many girls in the outpatient clinic who either stay up late, diet, or have emotional breakdowns and don’t take it seriously at all, or they are so scared that they check Baidu when their menstruation is delayed for three days. In fact, it is normal for menstruation to be early or late for up to 7 days. If something is not right for two or three months in a row, it is not too late to check.

There is another topic that many people are ashamed to mention, but it really accounts for nearly half of the outpatient visits, which is sex-related gynecological problems. Last month, a 30-year-old mother came to see a doctor. She said she had been having pain during intercourse for almost half a year after giving birth. She was embarrassed to say that her mother-in-law also told her that "women are like this after giving birth, and it will pass if you tolerate it." As a result, she didn't come for a check-up until recently when she had bleeding in intercourse, which has developed into chronic cervicitis and mild pelvic floor muscle prolapse. Nowadays, there are indeed two completely different concepts. The older generation believes that "you should suffer when giving birth" and advises people to endure many discomforts. However, modern gynecological clinics have long stopped advocating this "hard-to-bear" logic: whether it is pain during intercourse, bleeding after intercourse, leakage of urine after giving birth, or vaginal relaxation, there are corresponding solutions. There are always suitable solutions for pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation, topical medication, and physical therapy. There is no need to endure chronic diseases to treat them. There is also the HPV infection that everyone fears the most. The current misunderstandings are also quite extreme: either you think that if you are infected, you will get cervical cancer, and you spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy the so-called "conversion factor" and "anti-HPV gel", or you think that you can get better anyway and don't do screening at all. In fact, objectively speaking, 80% of women of childbearing age will be infected with HPV once in their lives, and most of them can naturally turn negative within 1-2 years by relying on their own immunity. No special medication is needed at all. However, if the high-risk subtypes such as types 16 and 18 continue to be infected for more than 1 year, you must combine the TCT results to see whether you need further colposcopy. Regular joint screening every year is 10,000 times more effective than buying high-priced negative-turning products.

Oh, by the way, there is another trivial question that everyone often asks: What kind of material is good for underwear? Should I use a special underwear disinfectant? In fact, it’s really not that particular. I usually wear ordinary cotton underwear. I change them every day and rub them clean with ordinary underwear soap. After washing, I put them on the balcony to dry in the sun. I have never had any problems. Nowadays, there are many regular brands of quick-drying antibacterial underwear. As long as they are qualified products and are not sweaty or tight when worn, they can be used. You don’t have to pursue expensive products with the banner of “gynecological speciality”. On the contrary, some unqualified antibacterial products add messy ingredients, which will destroy the balance of vulva flora.

In fact, gynecological health is really not as complicated as everyone thinks. To put it bluntly, don’t mess around with yourself and don’t bear the signs of discomfort. After you have sex, remember to do a routine gynecological examination, TCT and HPV screening every year. If you really have a problem, go to a gynecologist in a regular hospital. It is much more reliable than browsing short videos on Baidu all night.