What Can Throw off Your Vaginal pH Balance & How to Restore It

The vaginal pH is a measurement that indicates whether the vagina is acidic or basic. This can range from 0 to 14, where if the pH is less than 7, the vagina is considered acidic, and if it is more than 7, it is basic. 

So, what can throw off your pH balance? How do you use a vaginal pH balance test?

In this article, we’ll talk about vaginal pH in more detail and what you can do to maintain a healthy balance. We’ll also discuss when to contact your women’s health clinic about your vaginal health. 

What Is Considered A Healthy Vaginal pH?

The vagina is moderately acidic, as its pH level is between 3.8 and 4.5, but this depends on the individual’s stage of life.

For instance, women who are aged between 15 and 49 and are during their reproductive years usually have a vaginal pH of less than or equal to 4.5. The levels tend to be higher before menstruation or if the patient has gone through menopause. 

That said, an acidic vagina creates a protective environment, as it reduces the chance of a person having an infection. 

Furthermore, if the pH level is above 4.5, unhealthy bacteria can grow in the vagina, and this increases the risk of the following infections:

• Bacterial vaginosis (BV): This medical condition occurs when there is a bacterial overgrowth in your vagina. You may notice that your vaginal discharge is gray, white, or yellow, and you may also have itchiness and a burning sensation when urinating. BV can increase your risk of developing severe infections, such as HIV, human papilloma, and the herpes simplex virus.
• Trichomoniasis (trich): This is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that doesn’t usually cause symptoms. However, people who have this disease are at significant risk of contracting HIV. 

An acidic vaginal environment may not lead to diseases, but you may have difficulty getting pregnant if the acidity level is very high. This is because sperm needs an alkaline environment to thrive, and the pH levels have to be between 7.0 and 8.5.

In addition, when you have sex, your vagina’s pH levels increase, creating an alkaline environment so that it helps the sperm to reach the egg.

What Can Throw Off Your pH Balance?

There are many factors that can throw off or cause a pH imbalance in your vagina, such as:

• Douching: Douching is when you clean your vagina with solutions that contain vinegar or baking soda. These can increase the pH level as they remove the healthy bacteria from your vagina, increasing your risk of developing infections.
• Unprotected sex: Seminal fluid is alkaline, and it can temporarily increase the vaginal’s pH levels. 
• Antibiotics: You may take antibiotics to get rid of the harmful bacteria, but these medications can also kill good bacteria, including those in your vagina. As a result, this can cause a vaginal pH imbalance.
• Periods: The blood’s pH is higher than that of the vaginal environment. So, when you’re menstruating, your period can increase pH levels.

Symptoms Of A Vaginal pH Imbalance

Some symptoms you may experience when you have an imbalance in your vaginal pH include:

• Itching or discomfort around the vagina and vulva. 
• Burning during urination.
• Discharge with a fishy-like odor.
• Yellow or green discharge. 
• Thick or chunky discharge. 

How To Balance Vaginal pH

The following are the options that you may find useful to help restore your vaginal pH balance:

Natural Remedies

If the pH levels in your vagina are regularly high, but you don’t have any signs of an infection, there are several steps that you can take to help reduce these levels. 

• Avoiding douching: We recommend that you avoid douching or using harsh soaps, as most soaps have a high pH and are considered basic, and they can increase the vaginal pH. You may consider cleaning the vulva with warm water and a gentle cleanser, but don’t put any soap inside your vagina.
• Taking probiotics: This helps restore the natural bacterial levels in the body. You can find them in yogurt, miso, and kombucha, or you can also buy supplements.
• Using contraception: Condoms protect against STDs, but they also prevent semen from affecting the vaginal pH levels.
• Changing tampons regularly: It is best to avoid leaving a tampon in your vagina for too long, as the blood is slightly basic and can increase vaginal pH. Most companies recommend changing tampons every four to eight hours, which helps reduce the risk of toxic shock syndrome (TSS). TSS is a rare, life-threatening condition that can cause a sudden high fever, low blood pressure, vomiting, or diarrhea.

Furthermore, you may also consider avoiding doing the following so that you don’t irritate the vagina:

• Wearing tight underwear.
• Holding in urine.
• Using spermicidal foam.
• Using products containing fragrance.

Vaginal pH Balance Test

Here’s how to balance vaginal pH using an at-home test kit.

Some companies offer test kits that you can buy to measure your vaginal pH balance at home, and these are available online and in some pharmacies. 

If you go for this option, you have to place a strip of paper against your vaginal walls for a few seconds, and after that, you can compare the resulting color to the chart that you have received with the test kit. This helps you determine the pH value. 

However, make sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions before performing the test. It should include recommendations on when you can test the pH levels, for example, not testing when you’re on your period or after having sex. 

You can contact our gynecologists in Boca Raton if you wish to know more about these home vaginal pH balance tests. 

Medications

Doctors can prescribe antibiotics if you have BV symptoms and a high vaginal pH. These can be:

• Clindamycin: This is available as a suppository and cream that you insert inside the vagina, and the doctor may recommend using one suppository per day for three days in a row.  However, you may use the cream once as well, but for three or seven days. 
• Metronidazole: This comes in pill form, and you can also find it as a topical gel that you insert into the vagina. It may be best to avoid drinking alcohol while getting treated with this drug, as this reduces the risk of abdominal pain, nausea, and stomach upset.
• Tinidazole: You can take this medication orally, and it can also cause stomach upset and nausea. Avoiding alcohol can reduce your risk of these side effects.

When To See Your Doctor

Our team recommends visiting an OB-GYN regularly for your vaginal health checkups.

It also helps to book a gynecological appointment if you have any signs of a vaginal pH imbalance, such as itching, unusual discharge, or burning sensation. 

The doctor can perform tests to check your vaginal pH and determine whether you have an infection.

Book Your Appointment With Us

When there is an imbalance in your vaginal pH, you may have itching, burning when urinating, and a chunky, yellow or green discharge. 

There are many ways that can help restore pH balance – you can take prebiotics, use gentle cleansers to clean the vulva, change tampons regularly and consider using condoms during sex.

You’re not alone in this. You can book an appointment with our team at Women’s Healthcare of Boca Raton if you are concerned about your vaginal health or want to know more about how to balance vaginal pH. 

You can call our clinic at (561) 273-7364 or (561) 465-8834 or request an appointment online.