Patient's question:
Female, 27 years old. I have been menopausal for two years, but recently I have been feeling very itchy in the external genitalia and vaginal opening, and the odor of the discharge is also very strong. After examination, it was diagnosed as pelvic inflammatory disease. Please ask: How could I get pelvic inflammatory disease?Doctor's answer:
It is a mistaken belief that if one is generally clean, they cannot get pelvic inflammatory disease. In reality, the female reproductive tract has its own self-defense mechanisms. This defense mechanism typically begins with the labia majora, which close and lock the urethral and vaginal openings. As a result, the vaginal walls also remain closed. Although the female vagina contains many bacteria, these bacteria mutually restrain each other, with lactobacilli being dominant. The vagina has an acidic environment, while cervical mucus is acidic, and the cervix is alkaline. Among these multiple barriers, including the cyclical shedding of the endometrium (as seen during menstruation) and the swaying motion of the fallopian tube mucosa, which moves toward the uterine cavity, all these mechanisms effectively prevent, to some extent, the transmission of various infections. However, we often hear about cleaning the external genitalia and the vagina. In fact, such actions can destroy the self-defense mechanisms of the reproductive tract, thereby increasing the likelihood of infection.