There is a way to care for your underwear when you have a toilet or yeast infection. This is the best time to pay particular attention to your hygiene and ensure it is at its peak.
Below are some ways to care for underwear during an infection:
1. Use a skin-friendly laundry detergent
Treat your skin down there as sensitively as possible, our experts advise. It is advised that you use a hypoallergenic detergent, one that’s made for sensitive skin, free of dyes or perfumes.
You should also avoid using bleach on laundry day if your underwear is involved.
You never want to bleach your panties. Not only does it break down the fibers of the cloth and wear your underwear out faster, but it can also expose you to chemicals when it interacts with elastic that can cause an allergic reaction on the skin.
2. Change them as often as you can
Seems obvious, right? But in addition to changing them daily, you should avoid sitting too long in a damp pair on a sweaty afternoon or worse, after a workout, if you’re very prone to yeast/ vaginal infections.
Underwear can trap moisture and bacteria and yeast love to multiple in a warm and wet environment.
Whether you’re prone to infection or not, use dampness as a cue to send your undies to the laundry basket. If the discharge is bothersome and you can feel the wetness or moisture, then you should wear a new pair.
It’s also important to note that lingerie has an expiry date: Once the elastic is slackened and they’re not staying in place and causing extra rubbing and shifting around, it’s time to throw them out and get some new ones.
3. Limit wearing of thongs and g-strings
Due to the nature of the design, thongs can potentially promote the transmission of colon bacteria towards and into the vagina. This potentially will disrupt the normal bacterial antenna and increase the risk of vaginal and urinary infections.
A good general rule of wearing thongs: limit your thong use to when you really need to wear your bodycon dresses or pants.
4. Study the discharge stains
You should be paying attention because your discharge can tell you a lot about your health and whether things are working as they should down under.
If you notice the color of your discharge is getting different from what it was when you first knew you had an infection, please talk to your physician.
Often an off-white discharge is not concerning, but if you have an odorous discharge or notice new blood and you are not about to menstruate, you should call the doctor to discuss it immediately.
5. Pay attention to how you dry your underwear
Underwear is sensitive because you wear them on perhaps the most sensitive part of your body. When you have an infection, be conscious about where you leave your underwear to air dry. You do not want to go about carrying more unnecessary infections, you know.
It is best you dry it under the sun so that all the germs will be totally eradicated, it will also do you good to iron them before wearing.
