She knew that high pH levels led to odor, so it needed to be pH optimized in order to prevent odor and to be used on sensitive body parts. Klingman did some serious research and worked for years to create an effective, skin loving deodorant for private parts that would empower women to throw away outdated ideas about “feminine hygiene”. What seems odd, is that it took someone this long to figure this out! One can see why this would cause some confusion. So let’s say bacteria from our GI tract migrate a tad and meet up with a bit of semen that has leaked outside the vagina - a very common scenario (semen can leak out of the vagina for hours or even days after intercourse, because gravity).īacteria consume the semen, and emit an odor that is exactly the same as the odor identified with BV. Odor below the belt is a result of bacteria from our GI tract coming into contact with high pH bodily fluids. And the same reaction happens wherever bodily fluids show up - whether sweat, blood, urine, or semen. We are used to blaming sweat for odor in our armpits, but it’s actually bacteria that create the odor. Klingman realize women were in desperate need of a solution for odor below the belt, one that would actually address the problem (and in the meantime, stop throwing shade the vagina’s way!)ĪLL odor reactions are a result of bacteria digesting bodily fluids. Doctors were diagnosing women with infections when in reality, many of these women just had ordinary body odor from living their ordinary lives! Klingman now had scientific proof that we had all been making incorrect assumptions that vaginas were completely to blame for odor below the belt. Odor molecules that form on the outside of our bodies are identical to the odor molecules we find consistent with BV. (Did you know people can study odor molecules? Heck, did you know there were odor molecules at all?) Guess what the lab discovered? Klingman hired a lab to study odor molecules to find out if her hunch was correct. Is it possible the odor reactions on the outside of our bodies could be similar to the odor from the vagina when someone had BV? Is it possible we are misdiagnosing BV in some cases when the culprit is actually day to day vulvar odor, NOT vaginal odor?ĭr. What if the odor was the result of ordinary living - bacteria on the skin coming into contact with high pH bodily fluids like sweat, semen, urine, and blood. So they were doing what it takes to make that happen! Shannon sometimes noticed an odor from herself that was suspiciously close to the odor which is a red flag for BV, but she knew she didn’t have BV. When you are working those crazy resident hours, you don’t have a lot of time for your own needs, and a daily shower can be a luxury not everyone can afford.Īt the time of her residency, Shannon and her husband (both OB/GYNs) were working on building their own family. When her own personal experiences collided with this dilemma, that’s when the wheels really started turning. It just didn’t feel right to Shannon, she knew women deserved better. They might as well have had a cookie jar full of antibiotics - “Grab a handful on your way out!” “It felt like THAT was shaming women.” Women Deserve Better This can cycle sometimes 5 or 6 times per year for some women. When the odor inevitably returns, the patient calls the doctor - and the assumption is made that the prescription should be renewed. According to Shannon, “You would have thought that every woman in America had BV at the rate prescriptions were being written.”Īnd it’s not just once. Klingman was noticing that it was, perhaps, a bit too common. Drops of potassium hydroxide are added to a sample of vaginal fluid, and if the resulting odor is sharp and fishy, it can indicate a positive diagnosis for BV.īV is a very common diagnosis, but Dr.
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One of the criteria for determining whether a woman has BV is the Whiff test.
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Symptoms are uncomfortable and may include:
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Assumptions were made that odors they were describing were due to an infection called bacterial vaginosis (also referred to as bacterial vaginitis), and women would go home with a prescription antibiotic.īacterial vaginosis is an infection that happens when bacteria that are normally present in the vagina are out of balance.
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Specifically, odor that was a bit on the fishy side. What she saw repeatedly: Women would come in and express concerns about odor below the belt. Shannon was no exception and was seeing up to 50 patients per day, sometimes staying at the clinic for 2 days in a row without a break. You may have heard tales of medical residency and the exhausting schedules residents keep. Shannon Klingman was doing her second year of residency and was focused on gynecology.