Talk:Vaginal discharge/Archive 1

Change redirect
I don't think menstruation is the correct redirect for this term. Vaginal discharge is a clinical term used to describe some kind of mucopurulent discharge, often in the setting of an infection. I think this should be redirected accordingly.

I think mensuration is the word for this Aaliyah Stewart (talk) 22:02, 23 October 2016 (UTC)

Editing Content and Organization
Hello wiki community!

We are two fourth-year medical students at UCSF planning to edit this article on Vaginal discharge over the new few weeks. Our plan is to re-organize the information and shift some of the content to be more reflective of what lay readers may be looking for when searching for this topic online. We are also hoping to add an image/photo of normal vaginal discharge, and propose moving the current photos of the Candidal discharge, pH strips, and wet mount to pages on the specific conditions they represent. The general outline for the article we propose is as such:

Physiologic • Normal composition, amount, appearance.

'''Shifts in vag dc through reproductive life stages ''' • childhood • adolescence / puberty • reproductive/ovulatory years - shifts in discharge through the menstrual cycle • pregnancy • menopause

Pathologic • Common Infections causing changes in vaginal discharge: - BV - Candida - Trichomonas • Other more rare pathologic causes of changes in vaginal discharge including STIs, foreign object, cytolytic vaginosis, etc.

Please chime in if you have other suggestions or thoughts! Looking forward to working with ya'll VeeBabzel (talk) 01:58, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)

Bacterial vaginosis is an infection caused by a change in the vaginal flora, which refers to the community of organisms that live in the vagina. It is the most common cause of pathological vaginal discharge in women of childbearing age and accounts for 40-50% of cases. (add cite) In BV, the vagina experiences a decrease in a bacteria called lactobacilli, and a relative increase in a multitude of anaerobic bacteria with the most predominant being Gardnerella vaginalis. This imbalance results in the characteristic vaginal discharge experienced by patients with BV. The discharge in BV has a characteristic strong fishy odor, which is caused by the relative increase in anaerobic bacteria.[1] The discharge is typically thin and grey, or occasionally green. It sometimes is accompanied by burning with urination. Itching is rare. The exact reasons for the disruption of vaginal flora leading to BV are not fully known. However, factors associated with BV include antiobiotic use, unprotected sex, douching, and using an intrauterine device (IUD). The role of sex in BV is unknown, and BV is not considered an STD. The diagnosis of BV is made by a health care provider based on the appearance of the discharge, discharge pH > 4.5, presence of clue cells under the microscope, and a characteristic fishy odor when the discharge is placed on a slide and combined with potassium hydroxide ("whiff test"). The gold standard for diagnosis is a gram stain showing a relative lack of lactobacilli and a polymicrobial array of gram negative rods, gram variable rods, and cocci. BV may be treated with oral or intravaginal antibiotics, or oral or intravaginal lactobacillus.

Margotalbert (talk) 20:03, 2 December 2016 (UTC)margotalbertMargotalbert (talk) 20:03, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Candida Vulvovaginitis

Commonly referred to as a vaginal yeast infection, this disease is the result of overgrowth of candida albicans, or yeast, in the vagina. Risk factors for yeast infections include recent antibiotic use, diabetes, immunosuppression, increased estrogen levels, and use of certain contraceptive devices including intrauterine devices, diaphragms, or sponges. It is not a sexually transmitted infection. Candida vaginal infections are common; an estimated 75% of women will have at least one yeast infection in their lifetime. Vaginal discharge is not always present in yeast infections, but when occurring it is typically odorless, thick, white, and clumpy. Vaginal itching is the most common symptom of candida vulvovaginitis. Women may also experience burning, soreness, irritation, pain during urination, or pain during sex. The diagnosis of Candida vulvovaginitis is made by looking at a sample taken from the vagina under the microscope that shows yeast, or from a culture. It is important to note that the symptoms described above may be present in other vaginal infections, so microscopic diagnosis or culture is needed to confirm the diagnosis. Treatment is with intra-vaginal or oral anti-fungal medications.

Margotalbert (talk) 21:01, 2 December 2016 (UTC)margotalbertMargotalbert (talk) 21:01, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Trichomonas Vaginitis

Trichmonas vaginitis is an infection acquired through sex that is associated with vaginal discharge. The discharge in Trichomonas is usually yellowish-green in color, and may have a foul odor.

Peer Review Suggestions
Dear Wiki Community!

I am part of the UCSF wikipedia editing course and am putting forth some suggestions for the page! This (hopefully) will serve as helpful suggestions for both my colleagues who will continue to work on this article this week and for any future editors of this page.

Lead: Good summary of the ensuing section. I think a description of the overall appearance and texture of discharge would be useful for the lay audience. Given that the typical audience of this page would be looking for information on specific pathology, perhaps information on change as well can be useful.

Physiologic Change: A really good section with lots of good information. Perhaps consider simplifying the language to avoid words such as "commensal." Additionally, editors can consider adding links for lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide. This would also be a great place to discuss the other roles of physiologic discharge, such as facilitating sperm motility. This, in turn, can be useful in putting in context the information about pH and semen neutralization of pH.

Production: Is VIP the primary/only neurotransmitter? It appears in the introduction paragraph to this section and may be a little bit out of context from the rest of this section, which is mostly on the differences during different stages of life. I wonder if this introduction section would be better under the "Physiologic discharge" section? Small edit: "The findings" appear without reference to what studies these findings are from. The study is cited, but does not appear in writing in the actual paragraph.

Perhaps consider adding information on how adolescence may influence vaginal discharge, since this may be another reason why someone may be on this page.

Menstrual cycle: In addition to describing differences in amount for menstrual cycle, perhaps other details that would be helpful is changes in appearance, quality, smell. Also, would be useful to mention how it is used, for example, for tracking ovulation purposes. Neonatal: Good section! Pregnancy: Perhaps also describe some of the roles of vaginal discharge in pregnancy (such as for protective purposes) and changes in appearance. The sentence about stress and sexual arousal increasing it seems out of place with this section.

Great work, team! This looks like a very informative page!

rjin1 (talk) 16:05, 12 Dec 2016

Peer Review for Margotalbert
In the section of “Physiologic discharge”, you say These commensal bacteria do not typically cause problems or infections - my follow-up comment to this would be, can you clarify what types of “problems” could be expected here, or be a bit more specific?

A standard image of vaginal anatomy might be helpful to include on this page, even though it is already in other articles you link out to.

What’s the impact of shifting the vaginal pH as a result of sexual arousal? A detail or two might be helpful to include here, otherwise it would be tough for a layperson to see the relevance.

Again, in the “Puberty” section, would be helpful to include how the more acidic environment when lactobacilli are consuming glycogen is relevant to a person, just to put things into context. You mention it in the pregnancy section, so maybe I would just move that up to the first time in the article when you mention the acidic environment of the vagina and the resultant advantages and disadvantages of this state.

In the menopause section, maybe a brief link-out to topical estrogen creams or similar topic?

In the second paragraph under “Pathological” the sentences could be tightened a bit.

For the specific sections on BV, Yeast infection, Trich and C&G, it might be helpful to break the paragraphs up into subsections of symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment to ease readability.

Great job overall!

Octodocto (talk) 05:05, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Vaginal lubrication
Forgive me if I'm just missing something here, but it feels like these two articles are discussing pretty much the same thing. Looks like the "discharge" article focuses on developmental medicine and pathology, while the "lubrication" article focuses more on sexual health. But why? Wouldn't it make more sense for a single article to cover everything comprehensively? Newbiepedian (talk · C · X! · L) 05:35, 17 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Oppose: Newbiepedian, vaginal discharge is mainly discussed in the context of medicine and pathology -- what is and is not good vaginal discharge -- and there are different types of vaginal discharge (as made clear by the article). By contrast, vaginal lubrication is mainly discussed in the context of sexual arousal. So "vaginal discharge" and "vaginal lubrication" do not always mean the same thing; in most cases, they don't. Vaginal lubrication should continue to have its own article. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 19:52, 17 April 2018 (UTC)


 * But the Vagina lubrication article possibly needs to be tweaked so that it doesn't have a section titled "Vaginal discharge"/a section focused on that. Vaginal discharge can still be mentioned there, but with not as much of a focus on it, and text there should perhaps distinguish between vaginal discharge as it's usually discussed and vaginal lubrication in reference to sexual arousal. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 20:04, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

Oppose Discharge and sexual lubrication are entirely different topics, which will be searched by, and read by, entirely different people, at different times. --Nigelj (talk) 21:12, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

Support, clarify, or create a vaginal secretions umbrella article. The problem is that there are several different types of vaginal secretions, and all of these can function as both as lubrication and as discharge. Any secretion that is in the vagina can lubricate sex. All vaginal secretions will exit the vagina, which makes them all discharge. However, there are many different type of secretions, and typically secretions lumped under the discharge label (normal discharge, cervical mucous, discharge caused by infection) and one is typically called vaginal lubrication or sometimes arousal fluid (a specific fluid produced during sexual arousal composed of transvaginal transudate) - but neither article makes this clear whatsoever. So I can see how many readers might be confused. Mvolz (talk) 07:52, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Mvolz, you stated, "any secretion that is in the vagina can lubricate sex." The point is the purpose of the secretion. Menstrual blood, for example, and as you know, is not for lubrication during sex. Similar goes for pathological vaginal discharge. Vaginal lubrication is specifically for lubrication during sex. It's like you stated: "one is typically called vaginal lubrication or sometimes arousal fluid (a specific fluid produced during sexual arousal composed of transvaginal transudate)." Above, I noted that the Vaginal lubrication article can be edited to make things on this matter clear. So can this article. Similar to what I stated above, you also seemed to be stating that "vaginal discharge" does not typically refer to vaginal lubrication. If you were stating that vaginal lubrication is typically under the discharge label, that's not what I've seen. Not even typically under "normal discharge." I have, however, seen some sources take the time to note that there will be an increase in discharge when sexually aroused, and that this is normal discharge. I don't see it as beneficial to have vaginal lubrication (which is specifically meant to lubricate during sex) lumped together with vaginal discharge (which is discussed in a pathological or non-pathological sense). I feel that this would be more confusing to readers, although "vaginal lubrication" could redirect to a specific section within an umbrella article. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 10:43, 1 August 2018 (UTC)


 * The General section of the article does note vaginal lubrication. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 11:00, 1 August 2018 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 30 August 2021 and 21 September 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Wojcickij, Jasminw4, NotPatrickLow. Peer reviewers: Winniefan, Asilvaalex4.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 12:13, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Margotalbert, VeeBabzel. Peer reviewers: Octodocto, Rjin1.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 12:13, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

The main photo is irrelevant
Could someone with more Wikipedia experience change the main photo with a more relevant one? The current one is an unnecessary (in this context) medical demonstration of IUD strings. And it's also repulsive, inesthetic; I could barely watch it. I know that Wikipedia photos should not be pornographic, but I think that more relevant non-obscene photos exist. There could be also a drawing or illustration - I've seen these types in other sex-related pages. 2A02:2F07:A301:2F00:9008:7FEC:510:DB20 (talk) 10:22, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

Abnormal discharge pics
Hi, would it be helpful to have some pics of abnormal discharge? Is anyone brave enough to add some of their own? I know we have descriptions but it may help someone decide to see a doctor. 2A00:23C5:D038:DA01:A099:1FCF:9F8:2864 (talk) 07:17, 25 December 2022 (UTC)