Step away from the douche… Feminine hygiene craze ‘raises the risk of getting the HPV virus’

LADIES, it's time to start thinking carefully about how you get clean.

We've already explained that women who douche – wash their vaginas with a device – are almost doubling their risk of developing ovarian cancer.

Now a study has found it can also increase the risk of contacting human papillomavirus (HPV).

The research comes from a team at the University of Texas, which tried to see if there were links between douching and the virus in 1,271 women.

All the ladies were between 20 and 49 and they'd been a part of a survey in 2004.

Staggeringly, it was found that the cleaning practice saw the chance of a woman getting infected jump by 26%.

The research was published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, and even worse it was found douching leaves women 40% more likely to get a strain of the virus that causes cancer.

Although the study isn't conclusive, it's probably not worth taking a chance.

Apart from anything, this level of cleaning could actually be bad for your private area.

"I can't think of any circumstances where douches are helpful, because all they do is wash out everything that's in the vagina, including all the healthy bacteria," Professor Ronnie Lamont, spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, explained.

"If nature had intended the vagina to smell like roses or lavender, it would have made the vagina smell like roses or lavender."

The vagina is designed to clean itself thanks to natural secretions, so there's no reason to use a jet of water to help it along its way.

This is the latest in a string of news about sexual health, such as this about a new vaginal ring being used to protect women against HIV.