Why do doctors rub vaginas?
When we see our doctor for abnormal vaginal symptoms such as itching, redness, pain, or unusual discharge from the vagina, your doctor may require tests to diagnose the cause. Vaginal swabbing allows your doctor to send samples from your vagina to a pathology lab where vaginal discharge (mucous) and loose cells from the vaginal lining collected by the swab can be tested. The results of these tests will often lead to a definitive diagnosis of why you have the symptoms.
What is the doctor looking for?
Your doctor is trying to clarify the cause of your symptoms because many different conditions can cause similar vaginal discomfort.
For example, you may have contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that will require specific medical treatment (such as chlamydia or gonorrhea).
You may have a bacterial infection like bacterial vaginosis or a yeast infection like yeast infection that are not strictly STIs, but are caused by germs that always live in your vagina. When these microbes have grown to “plague” proportions, they create discomfort.
You may have a parasitic infection such as trichomonas vaginalis which is caused by a small protozoan (unicellular) microbe.
After all, you may not have an infection, but simply an irritation caused by chafing during sex or an allergic reaction to the washing powder used in your underwear.
How do doctors actually clean the vagina?
A cotton swab that resembles a long, large “cotton swab” or “swab” will be inserted into the vagina and moved around the vaginal walls to collect any secretions, secretions, and loose cells that are present. The swab is then placed in a sterile plastic container and shipped for testing.
Where do vaginal swabs go?
The vaginal swabs are sent to a specialized pathology laboratory for examination based on your doctor’s suggestions.
In the pathology lab, they can look at a “stained” smear of your vaginal discharge under the microscope to see if they can find anything unusual (such as a pathogenic protozoan). Typically the sample will be tinted with a dye to help show the contrast in the mostly transparent sample.
The pH (acidity / alkalinity) of your vaginal discharge can be tested to determine if the problem is more likely to be fungal or bacterial in nature.
Your pathology sample can be incubated by smearing it on an “agar agar” plate and keeping it in an incubator for a few days to see what grows. Any pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes that have gotten onto the agar (which provides a beautiful nutrient-rich food source for the microbes) should grow at 37 ° C incubation as this is human body temperature. Once a colony of microbes has grown, it is much easier for pathologists to determine what it is.
Does rubbing your vagina really help?
If neither you nor your doctor is sure what is causing your vaginal discomfort, the swab is a great diagnostic tool. Aside from the obvious embarrassment involved in the procedure, it is minimally invasive and should lead you to receive the correct treatment.
Is it really necessary to rub the vagina?
The smear does not always reveal the problem behind vaginal symptoms. A study conducted at the University of Leeds and published in the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1978 reported that women with Pruritis Vulvae (the medical term for itchy vulva or external parts of the vagina) and vaginal discharge indicative of Vaginal Candidiasis (Candida albicans infection, also known as vaginal yeast infection or vaginal yeast infection) could test positive for vaginal yeast infection at first, then a week later; after treatment with placebo, the result will be negative. Similarly, women who had originally tested negative for vaginal yeast infection diagnosed by incubation of vaginal swabs had tested positive using the same test after one week of treatment with a placebo. The researchers weren’t sure if the swabs were taken from different parts of the vagina on the two different occasions or if the yeast infection had disappeared spontaneously (in some women’s vaginas) and appeared spontaneously (in other women’s vaginas).