Vaginal Discharge – What Is Considered Abnormal?
Most women have vaginal discharge that comes out of the vagina. Some have it daily, whereas some have it once in a while. The amounts can be less and infrequent, or heavy and continuous. Most of the time healthy vaginal discharge is one that is clear or whitish, may have a slight odor that is not strong smelling, may even leave a yellow stain on the underwear.
Abnormal Vaginal Discharge
The abnormal vagina discharge is one that arises from within the walls of the vagina. This discharge can either be clear and watery, thick and white, or even have other colour changes such as yellow, pink, red or even green.
This discharge can also accompany other symptoms such as vagina Odour – foul smell or fishy smell, vagina pain during sex, vagina pain, vagina itch and discomfort. The consistency of this discharge can also become thicker and more opaque as well.
Again this discharge can be caused by an infection, whether hygiene related or STI related.
Causes of Abnormal Vaginal Discharge
Causes of hygiene related vagina discharge include Yeast, Monilla, Candida, group B streptococcus, Gardnerella (also known as bacteria vaginosis).
Causes of STI related vagina discharge are chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomonas, mycoplasma hominis, ureaplasma urealyticum or other vaginal bacteria. Symptoms may appear from 3 days after receptive vaginal intercourse or even receptive female oral fellatio. Many times, conditions such as Chlamydia can remain asymptomatic or symptomless in 7 out of 10 women.
If left untreated, the infections from STI related vagina discharge can cause long term problems such as infertility and even organ damage such as pelvic inflammatory disease. All these are easily preventable with a simple, confidential and fuss free DTAP Express vaginal STD swab. Rapid results for common STIs such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea allow for quick peace of mind and expedited treatment for you and or your partner. Expedited partner therapy allows you to collect medications for your partner also.
STD Testing For Abnormalities
If you opt instead for the DTAP Express FULL Vaginal STD swab, this will pick up both STI related causes of vagina discharge and non STI, or hygiene related causes of vagina discharge. These are all curable with treatments after the results. A repeat swab test is also advised 2 weeks after the end of treatment to document treatment success.
In some rarer instances, some ladies experience repeated abnormal discharge every month nearing their periods, or even abnormal discharge each time after sex even though both partners have been tested clear for STIs. The results after the swab can then be discussed with our DTAP clinic doctors to further investigate the causes of these repeated symptoms. Our DTAP Clinics at DUO, Robertson and Holland Village have doctors that regularly see Women’s health conditions such as repeated vaginal discharge even after testing and treatment.
Quick, confidential and fuss-free testing in the comfort and privacy of our DTAP Express clinic, designed around the comforts and needs of You the patient, allow for rapid results and expedited treatment for you and or your partner.
References
Carla Re et. l., 2019 J. Int STD & Aids
