Hello Gorgeous,

Today is Get Lippy Day, so we're going to Get Lippy about the key tips to look after your gynae health!

1: Don't douche, ever.

Douching is cleaning the vagina with either water or water mixed with any washes or products. Either way, please don’t ever do this. The vagina is self-cleaning. We have billions of good and bad bacteria living in our vagina, and these bacteria, along with various fungi and viruses, make up their own little ecosystem called the vaginal microbiome. The bacteria produce lactic acid, which creates an acidic environment (a low pH), which wards off nasty infections. Douching disrupts our microbiome and pH level, and makes us more likely to get infections including thrush, bacterial vaginosis and pelvic inflammatory disease. So let your vagina do its thing, it will be keeping itself nice and clean and healthy. 

2: Check your vulva and vagina regularly.

Everyone’s vulva looks, feels and smells differently, so the only way to spot if something might be wrong is to know your normal. Use a good mirror (and a light if you need it) to have a look at your vulva regularly, at least once a month. Have a feel inside your vagina too for any lumps or anything new or abnormal. Get to know what is normal for you, that way if anything changes, you can spot it straight away and go see a doctor.

3: Track your periods. 

Don’t disregard very heavy and/or very painful periods. What counts as a heavy period? Everyone is different but generally speaking:

• Heavy bleeding for 7 days or more
• Pain/heavy flow that disrupts your daily activities
• If you need to change your tampon/ pad every 1-2 hours
• If you need to use 2 period products at the same time
• If you have to get up during the night to change your products
• Bleeding through your clothes.

If you’ve gone through menopause, any amount of bleeding, from blood in  your discharge, spotting, or a full bleed, is abnormal and needs to get checked out.

4: Attend your cervical screening appointment.

Cervical screening is a test to help prevent cervical cancer. In the UK, anyone with a cervix will be eligible for cervical screening from the ages of 25-64. It’s the only national screening programme for any of the five gynae cancers and is a great way you can take action to help reduce your risk of cancer.

The cervical screening test looks for the virus which causes nearly all cervical cancers, Human Papilloma virus or HPV. If HPV is found they will then look to see whether there are any changes to cells which need further checks. These cell changes are not cancer and can be monitored or treated to prevent them developing cancer.

5: Know all the five gynae cancers.

Yes, there are FIVE gynaecological cancers: womb, ovarian, cervical, vulval and vaginal, all with different signs and symptoms. Knowing the key symptoms to look out for can help you spot anything worrying and get checked at the earliest opportunity. The symptoms are most likely to be caused by something less serious than cancer, but it is always worth checking just in case. The earlier a cancer is caught, the more treatment options are available.