Vaginal irritation and discharge may not be a yeast infection, and really just yeast has an over the counter solution. If you thought you had a vaginal infection, in fact you may have one of the other of the 5 most common vaginal conditions.
1. Contact dermatitis
2. Actual chronic yeast
3. Atrophic Vaginitis
4. Vestibulodynia
5. Physiologic Discharge
First an accurate diagnosis is important as many conditions are not appropriately treated by either antifungal or antibiotics.
Irritation from normal sex, exercise, excessive pad use, or physiologic discharge is possible. If on exam there are no findings at your gyno visit, it may be best to give yourself a chance to heal.
For women in perimenopause or beyond who are suffering from atrophic vaginitis they have options such as being treated non-medically with CO2 fractional therapy called MonaLisa Touch.
If you have struggled with what you think are chronic yeast infections the authors wanted women to know than normal discharge, contact dermatitis, atrophic vaginitis. and vestibulodynia were often a few causes that women had not considered.
So if you saw a provider, received therapy, but symptoms don’t resolve promptly, consider inaccurate diagnosis can be the culprit as often as inaccurate treatment.
