“If you’re not sure, you should go to the doctor.” How is BV treated? So, if your discharge is watery as opposed to white and thick, and smells like Pike Place Market on an August afternoon, it’s probably BV, and not a yeast infection. (Yeast infections on the other hand, are caused by an overgrowth of fungus called candida albicans-not bacteria.) Put more usefully, it causes that itching, discharge, and odor that makes BV so uncomfortable. If those levels rise, it means there’s not enough Lactobacillus and too much of the less-friendly bacteria.

Streicher, M.D., an OB-GYN and medical director of Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause. Normal vaginal pH is somewhere between 3.5 to 4.5, explains Lauren F. Here are the facts: What is bacterial vaginosis?īV is an infection caused by changes in the vagina’s healthy bacteria-most often when a strain of bacteria called Gardnerella vaginalis outnumbers another strain Lactobacillus, causing the vagina’s normal pH levels to shift. Don’t panic-BV isn’t serious, it just means the delicate bacterial ecosystem inside your vagina is out of balance. You could have BV (or bacterial vaginosis, if you want to get clinical).

Not only is your self-confidence approaching lows usually reserved for the dreaded cystic pimple, but you’re also uncomfortable! Is it a yeast infection? Maybe, but don’t reach for the Monistat just yet. Something is up with your vagina: there’s more discharge than usual, it smells, and everything itches.

Overgrowth of bacteria in vag