It stings, it scratches, itches, and it often falls at the wrong time. These unpleasant feelings badly placed are very irritating. However, a simple treatment is often enough to be quickly relieved.
Simply rinse with clean water on your way home and put on dry clothes. On a daily basis, one can make one's personal hygiene, once or twice a day, with a neutral perfume-free soap or a surgras soap. No need to "strip" or use astringent products.
In case of itching, one can use punctual hygiene products to calm the discomfort. But some irritations, most often without gravity, have less obvious causes. Here are the most common ways to relieve them.
1- An intolerance of the skin
A particular sensitivity can be a source of intimate itching. Thus, the components of sanitary napkins and pantiliners cause a gene and an irrepressible need to scratch in some women.
The remedy : swap your usual periodic packings for disposable or washable cloth sanitary napkins, which are much better tolerated by the skin. As for the panty liners, they also exist in fabric version but it is useless to wear them every day. They must be reserved at the beginning and end of the rules.
2- A vaginal mycosis
Redness and itching are the first signs of vaginal thrush. This condition is frequent since studies have shown that one in fourteen women will develop at least one during her lifetime (according to a study published in 2007 in the journal The Lancet).
These symptoms are most often due to a fungus, candida albicans. From the first symptoms, direction the pharmacy. You will be offered local treatment including an egg to place in the vagina at bedtime and antifungal cream to apply for one week.
Without improvement within three days, consult a doctor. After a clinical examination, he will carry out, if necessary, a sample, in order to identify the germ in question. Depending on the results, he will prescribe an antimycotic treatment with probiotics to restore the vaginal flora.
If you are especially prone to these fungal infections during or just after your periods, know that there are also now specific probiotics contained in a buffer instead of using regular periodic buffers.
3- A vaginal dryness
Vaginal dryness would affect up to 55% of women at any age (according to a
2004 study in the journal Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada). This
dryness causes irritations, more than itching, can be due to a long period of
sexual abstinence, to the taking of certain drugs (antihistamines,
antidepressants ...), especially to the lack of estrogens at the menopause, to care intimate too aggressive or poor lifestyle (tobacco, alcohol).
Nothing dramatic, but we must react, otherwise the sex life may suffer quickly
enough. Pharmacy lubricants and moisturizing gels to be applied locally fifteen
minutes before the report. Can also be introduced directly into the vagina
evening primrose capsules, borage or wheat germ after piercing.
4- Eczema or psoriasis
Eczema and psoriasis can affect all parts of the body, including the vulva. These two chronic inflammatory diseases evolve by outbreaks. In both cases, itchy plaques appear, but in psoriasis, they are usually delineated with thick, white or silver dander (kind of large dandruff).
If you have never had this kind of skin inflammation before, it is prudent to consult your doctor. He will then prescribe creams containing corticosteroids to be applied locally in case of a push and moisturizing creams (over-the-counter in pharmacies).
5- A lichen sclerosus
In women over 65, itching may be accompanied by an eruption of pigmented plaques, so it is imperative to consult a dermatologist without delay. It may be a lichen sclerosus, a chronic dermatological condition of unknown origin, which requires the local application of topical corticosteroids.
6- Vulvodynia
Vulvodynia is manifested by a feeling of discomfort in the vulva (burning, tingling, dryness ...) and pain in the touch, in contact with clothing, tampons, during sexual intercourse ... for more than three months.
The cause of this chronic condition remains mysterious, even though many doctors consider it to be of psychological origin. Patients are frequently referred to a pain center.
They are generally prescribed anesthetic ointments to be used before intercourse, an antidepressant or antiepileptic drug in small doses to treat pain, sometimes perineal reeducation, transvaginal electrical nerve stimulation and / or psychotherapy.