Vaginal facial could leave you with gonorrhea, HIV

While bloggers and alternative health therapists are encouraging women to cleanse their lady parts with the cucumber (only after it has been peeled), doctors are completely against the idea.

The trend, dubbed vaginal facial, involves inserting the cold cucumber in the vagina before twisting it around for about 20 minutes. Some even suggest that one should sleep with it or keep it in till it has turned completely warmed.

Those speaking for the fad say that the fruit’s high vitamin content helps sanitise and maintain a pleasant odour in the abdominal region.

However, doctors beg to differ. According to them, vaginas are self cleaning and they do not need any extra help to keep them fresh, not even soap.

They further add that using a cucumber as a form natural douche could actually leave one at a greater risk of infections like gonorrhoea and even HIV, by upsetting the natural pH balance of the vagina.

According to gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter from Canada, attempts at cleaning your lady garden in this way can actually cause more harm than good. She voiced the opinion on her blog.

According to her, by damaging lactobacilli and the mucosa, attempts at vaginal cleaning increase a woman’s risk of contracting gonorrhoea or HIV if she is exposed.

And it causes odour as well.

Furthermore all kinds of fungi, and anything else that can be picked up in a vegetable patch, could end up thriving in the vagina as well.

Dr Vanessa Mackay, a gynaecologist and spokeswomen for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, previously told The Sun Online that mild soap or a mild shower cream and water is all that one needs to wash the outside of the bottom, front and back.