Gynecological health education

90% of gynecological problems have nothing to do with personal life style. As long as you avoid the three major pitfalls of excessive cleaning, unauthorized use of medication, and neglect of routine screenings, you can avoid the risk of most gynecological diseases. There is no need to doubt yourself and be shy when you encounter discomfort in your private parts.

I have been outpatients for so many years, and the most common misunderstanding I have encountered is "the cleaner the private parts, the better". Many girls stock up on antibacterial lotions and private care sprays, and even irrigate the inside of their vaginas every day, thinking that this way they will be odor-free and hygienic. There was a 22-year-old girl who had just graduated. She used a certain Internet celebrity lotion every day for three months. She was so itchy that she could not sit still and came to the doctor. It was found that the vaginal flora was severely imbalanced, and even the dominant lactobacilli were almost washed away. It must be said objectively here that not all "cleansing" is wrong, and the nursing concepts of the older generation and the propaganda of some businesses are not completely unfounded - if vaginitis has been diagnosed, the doctor will indeed prescribe medicated lotion for short-term topical use, which is very efficient in relieving itching and odor symptoms. ； But if you don’t have any discomfort, just flushing your vulva with warm water every day is enough. The vaginal flora is like a stable small ecology. Lactobacillus occupies the "territory" and can block the invasion of harmful bacteria. If you use lotion every day, it is equivalent to driving away the "guardians", and harmful bacteria will naturally take the opportunity to dominate the mountain. Oh, by the way, there is no need to boil underwear in boiling water every day or soak it in special disinfectant solution. Just wash it and put it in a ventilated place to dry. Over-sterilization may leave irritating ingredients, and contact with the vulva can easily cause allergies.

When it comes to indiscriminate use of medicines, we have to mention those "private parts care products" of Internet celebrities, such as uterine cleansing and detoxifying pills and gynecological gels, which are highly praised and claimed to be able to expel uterine waste, shrink the vagina and beautify the skin. They are purely for earning IQ tax and are also harmful to others. There was a 32-year-old woman who bought three boxes of "Qinggong Pills" after watching a live broadcast. After using them for three days, her vagina hurt and started to bleed. When she came for a checkup, the pills had corroded the vaginal wall and created several ulcers, and there were still peeling mucous membranes on them. When she took them out, she hid in pain. Not to mention she spent less than 2,000 yuan and suffered for half a month. There are also many people who buy antibiotic plugs when they feel a little itchy or have excessive leucorrhea. They stop taking the medicine after two days and feel better. This can easily lead to drug resistance. Inflammation that is originally easy to treat becomes chronic and cannot be cured over and over again. If you really feel uncomfortable, just go to the hospital to check the leucorrhea routine. The results will be available in half an hour for more than ten yuan, and you can just take the right medicine for a few days. It is much more reliable than messing around on your own.

Nowadays, the most frequently asked question is HPV. Two schools of thought on the Internet are quarreling fiercely. One school says that "being infected with HPV means your private life will be messed up and you will get cervical cancer immediately." The other school says that "HPV will turn negative anyway, so you don't need to worry about it at all." Both of these views are too extreme. Objectively speaking, 80% of sexually active women will be infected with HPV at least once in their lives, and most of them are transient and will be naturally cleared by their own immunity within 1-2 years. Only high-risk HPV infection that lasts for more than 2 years is likely to develop into cervical precancerous lesions. Even if it does reach the stage of precancerous lesions, there are very mature intervention methods, and being infected with HPV is not equivalent to a death sentence. Previously, a 28-year-old girl tested positive for HPV16. She cried at home all afternoon and said that she and her husband were very careful about hygiene. How did she get this and whether she would have a uterus. I checked her TCT and it was completely normal, so I asked her not to stay up late and exercise more. I would check again a year later, and it turned out to be negative. She had spent more than half a year of anxiety in vain. Of course, we can’t take it completely seriously. After having sex, regular HPV+TCT combined screening and HPV vaccination for women of appropriate age can reduce the risk of cervical cancer to almost zero.

There is another misunderstanding that has been circulating for many years: "You should not take painkillers for dysmenorrhea, as they will become addictive." This is not entirely unreasonable. If you have severe gastric ulcers, you should be careful about taking non-steroidal painkillers. However, most healthy women take 1-2 ibuprofen tablets every month when they have pain. It is metabolized very quickly and will not be addictive at all. It will not harm the body. It is much more comfortable than if you are in cold sweat due to pain and unable to go to work or school. Of course, it doesn’t mean that you can just take painkillers to deal with dysmenorrhea. If you have never had dysmenorrhea before, and suddenly the pain becomes worse and worse, or you can’t suppress it with painkillers, then don’t just deal with it, and go check it out quickly to see if you have endometriosis or adenomyosis, and don’t delay treatment.

Oh, by the way, don’t think you don’t need to have a gynecological examination if you don’t feel uncomfortable. Many gynecological diseases have no symptoms at all in the early stage, such as cervical precancerous lesions and early ovarian cancer. By the time you feel pain or touch a mass, it is often already too late. After having sex, do a routine gynecological examination and TCT+HPV screening every 1-3 years. After the age of 30, if two consecutive screenings are normal, you can relax the check-up to once every 3-5 years. A gynecological B-ultrasound is done every year. It does not cost much and is not painful. It is much more useful than buying gynecological skin care products that cost thousands of dollars.

In fact, after all is said and done, gynecological health really doesn’t have that many twists and turns. Don’t scare yourself by false popular science, and don’t think that seeing a gynecologist is a shameful thing. Your body is your own. If you really have a problem, go to a regular hospital. It’s better than anything else.