How To Get Good Bacteria To Grow On Your Skin

You lot're probably aware you have a microbiome in your gut teeming with (hopefully) healthy bacteria that may help with everything from preventing obesity and digestive diseases to reducing the adventure of feet and Parkinson's disease , as well as some cancers . But your gut is not the merely place where leaner thrive in the body.

Communities of bacteria ― scientifically referred to as microbiota or your microbiome ― be all over the body, including in the vagina, according to Jacques Ravel, a professor and associate managing director for genomics at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

"They exist in all the areas that are exposed to the environment" or can be when strange things enter, as in the case of the gut, Ravel told HuffPost.

And simply like having the right healthy leaner in the gut is of import, having the right leaner in the vagina can take an issue on health, likewise. While research on the vagina'southward microbiome is notwithstanding in its early days, there are some things experts practice want patients to sympathise about the bacteria down there.

Here's a breakup of what you should know:

one. Some vaginas have bacteria related to the leaner in yogurt ― and that type is considered 'good' leaner

One blazon of bacteria found in some vaginas is from the same genus equally the bacteria in the yogurt in your refrigerator: lactobacillus . Every genus has many species within it. And the specific species of lactobacillus that can exist plant in the vagina is different from the species institute in the gut, urinary tract and some yogurts, Ravel explained.

There are many types of leaner that can alive in the vagina, simply if you have lactobacillus, you lot've won the vaginal microbiome jackpot, according to Ravel.

two. Good for you leaner tin lower your risk for sexually transmitted infections

Having lactobacillus is linked to a lower risk of infections from STIs like chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV, likewise as a lower chance for other problems, including pelvic inflammatory disease.

Scientists like Ravel remember that's because lactobacillus produces a lot of lactic acrid, lowering the vagina'south pH level to about 3.5 or 4 (which makes it very acidic). And an acidic surround is a hostile one for infections, Ravel explained. And that'due south a good matter.

"[The vagina is] an open site, but like the mouth or anything, significant that yous can have a lot of invading leaner," he said. But lactobacillus, by making the vagina acidic, protects against all of that.

Some other infection lactobacillus helps prevent is bacterial vaginosis . It'southward very common and tin cause pain or itching in the vagina, an scent and a white or gray belch (and increased risk of other infections or complications if left untreated). Antibiotics can help, but once a women gets this infection, she'south more likely to get information technology again and again, Ravel said.

Many women ignore the symptoms or don't realize they're something to tell their doc well-nigh. (And most gynecologists don't routinely look for the infection ― and then if y'all exercise suspect something's upwardly down at that place, say something!)

iii. Skillful bacteria may help prevent preterm labor

Several studies suggest that pregnant women who have lactobacillus in their vagina are less likely to deliver their baby prematurely. One such study of 49 pregnant women linked lactobacillus to a lower take a chance of preterm labor and showed that women with two other species of leaner, gardnerella and ureaplasma, were about likely have a preterm birth.

But other studies contradict those results , Ravel added. And other inquiry suggests that race may explain why lactobacillus tin can help preclude premature births for some women and not for others.

"I think the association is a lot more complicated than nosotros call back," Ravel noted ― "prematurity existence such a multi-factorial, multi-causal condition."

four. A lot of women don't necessarily accept good vaginal leaner

A lot of women don't take lactobacillus in their vaginas. They accept microbiomes down there that look entirely different with a lot more variety of leaner and a lot less (protective) acidity, added Richard Cone, a professor of biology and biophysics in the biophysics department at Johns Hopkins University.

"All of these women are at markedly increased risk of acquiring STDs, including HIV, and when they become meaning are at higher risk of premature births and perinatal infections," he told HuffPost.

Data that Ravel and his colleagues have collected show more 25 percent of women have no (or low levels of) lactobacillus in their vaginas ― and that number jumps to more 40 percentage for Latinas and but under xl per centum for African-American women.

But that doesn't mean those women'south vaginas are unhealthy, Ravel added ― they're but at higher take chances for all of those problems lactobacillus protects against.

v. Your mom may be to blame for whatever your vagina's microbiome looks like

There's evidence that having expert vaginal bacteria can be passed down from mother to daughter. Not because you lot're born with certain genes but considering if a baby girl is delivered vaginally, she's exposed to her female parent's vaginal bacteria at birth. If the mom has proficient bacteria, information technology may precondition the babe to grow expert bacteria after (since vaginal bacteria doesn't tend to accumulate until puberty), Ravel said.

The problem is that would hateful that babies delivered via C-section or to mothers without lactobacillus would be less likely to grow that good vaginal bacteria later on.

Some babies built-in via C-section withal finish up with lactobacillus in their vagina, though, Ravel said. Then, even though the connectedness makes sense, it's tough to know with certainty how important that link is. More studies are needed just ethically are tough to do, Ravel said.

half-dozen. Birth control can change the bacteria in your vagina

Some types of estrogen-containing nativity control, like some birth control pills, tin help encourage lactobacillus to grow and spread in the vagina, Ravel said. That'south because estrogen is what encourages growth of whatever vaginal bacteria ― and why women don't tend to become a lot of leaner in their vagina until puberty.

Other types with progesterone, like Depo-Provera, have been associated with increased infection risk, according to Ravel. Researchers are currently investigating whether that might be considering those birth control methods discourage the growth of healthy, protective bacteria, he added.

7. Having sex tin change the leaner in your vagina

Men accept bacteria on the penis, and those microbes look a lot more similar to the communities of bacteria found in women without lactobacillus. They tin be transferred when you have sex ― and, if they do, they tend to wipe out whatsoever good bacteria you have.

Due south tudies that have followed women over the class of several weeks (for which the women had their vaginas swabbed and the microbiota analyzed, and the women besides reported sexual activity and hygiene) have shown that the non-lactobacillus leaner tin accept over the microbiota in the vagina in a very curt amount of fourth dimension (eliminating lactobacillus) ― in some cases, past the adjacent 24-hour interval.

That doesn't mean that having sex activity will necessarily get rid of skilful vaginal bacteria if y'all have it, but it might, Ravel said. Using a condom helps cake the spread of those bacteria.

8. Vaginal douching can get rid of good vaginal bacteria, besides

Y'all do non need to make clean your vagina. Utilise a gentle soap and water to wipe around the exterior areas ― and annihilation further up cleans itself.

I study followed 3,620 women for a year, testing the women every three months for the bacterial vaginosis infection. Women who reported vaginal douching were more probable to exist among the 40.two percentage of women had the infection at some signal over the study.

9. Scientists are working on a probiotic for your vagina

Ravel'due south lab, too equally some other company in California , are developing probiotic treatments (basically a batter of leaner from healthy women with lactobacillus, Ravel explained) that could be administered directly to the vagina to permit healthy lactobacillus bacteria to colonize and take over any adult female's vagina.

The challenge is finding the right type of lactobacillus that's able to actually do that, since many strains are too weak. There's also a claiming in determining if it would work for all women.

Other companies are working on a similar treatment that would be given orally as a pill. None of those treatments are ready for prime time yet, Ravel said ― but he's hopeful. "I think those solutions are coming."