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Hi, Aunt Vadge!
I’m gearing up to start fermenting my own kefir to treat my BV at home. I bought a starter kit online (grains plus a nylon strainer), which should arrive next week. In the meantime a friend suggested something I think sounds dangerous, and I wanted your take.
She suggested something called a ‘womb pearl’. They’re very expensive ($60 for 6, and three is one full treatment – and that’s the ‘sale’ price). They’re a little net, and I’m not sure what’s inside them. You’re supposed to leave one in for three days, which sounds terrifying and harmful to me. But I’m scared the kefir treatment won’t work – my track record with ‘cures’ hasn’t been great.
I’m also a bit worried I’ll mess up the fermentation, or that the grains I bought won’t be good enough. The supplier lists the strains milk kefir usually contains but can’t confirm what’s in a given batch (a long list of Lactobacillus, Lactococcus and Leuconostoc species, plus the usual kefir yeasts).
To be honest I don’t really smell funky – some days maybe a little, but it’s not overbearing. My main issue is light yellow discharge, and there’s so much of it that I swab myself with a cotton bud whenever I get the chance. I also have one cut on my labia minora that never seems to fully heal. I haven’t had sex since December, I don’t use toys, and the only thing that goes in there is tampons.
I know this is long and I haven’t really asked a clear question – I suppose I just need a little advice. Thank you!
Intrigued
United States, age 21
Dear Intrigued,
Please do not use ‘womb pearls’. Your instinct is spot on. They have a terrible reputation – poor quality, unknown ingredients, no scientific backing whatsoever, and leaving a mesh pouch of mystery herbs against your vaginal wall for three days is a real irritation and infection risk. At that price you’d want them to make your morning coffee too. Give them a wide berth.
There’s an endless parade of products sold to women to clean out ‘toxins’ that simply aren’t there. Your vagina isn’t full of toxins, and it doesn’t need detoxing – it’s a self-cleaning organ. The whole idea preys on fear, and empties your wallet while it’s at it. Recurrent BV is right in our clinical wheelhouse, and womb pearls are an expensive dead end best avoided.
Your scepticism is well earned – the internet is full of rubbish, which is exactly why we built My Vagina. So don’t despair. Fixing BV is usually a slow job rather than a quick fix: it takes consistency, a bit of learning, and some trial and error. You clearly already understand what you’re aiming for, so keep going.
The kefir will be fine. There isn’t much of a market for dud milk kefir grains – they multiply quickly and easily, and the people selling them are usually keen fermenters who want you to love it, not rip you off. The grains are hardy and hard to kill, so read the care instructions and give it a go. Our free how to treat BV guide walks through the whole approach, and you can compare grain types in our notes on fresh versus dried grains and home-made versus store-bought kefir.
A couple of things in your letter I’d gently flag. First, the constant cotton-bud swabbing is very likely part of why that labial cut won’t heal – you’re mechanically irritating the same delicate spot over and over, so it never gets a chance to close. Give it a proper rest from swabbing and let it settle.
If a cut genuinely refuses to heal over several weeks despite leaving it alone, that’s worth an in-person look, because a small number of non-healing splits are caused by a skin condition like lichen sclerosus rather than simple friction. A doctor can examine the skin, which we can’t do from here.
Second, light yellow discharge without much smell isn’t always classic BV – it can point to aerobic vaginitis or another picture entirely, and those don’t respond to the same treatment. Before you throw everything at ‘BV’, it’s worth knowing exactly what’s growing. A comprehensive vaginal microbiome test takes the guesswork out and tells you what you’re actually treating.
Have a wander through our Killing BV support section too, to see what others have tried, the mistakes they’ve made, and the questions they’ve asked. And if you’d like a hand mapping out a plan for yourself, you can always book an appointment.
Write back anytime.
Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
- Baars T, van Esch B, van Ooijen L, et al. Raw milk kefir: microbiota, bioactive peptides, and immune modulation. Food & Function. 2023;14(3):1648–1661.
