Vaginal Health Insights

Gina Franco, MSN, ANP-C, discusses the often-overlooked sexual and vaginal health struggles cancer survivors face after treatment. She highlights how cancer therapy can disrupt vaginal tissues and how providers can better support whole-person healing through integrative care and patient-centered communication.

A 2025 review in Healthcare challenges the long-standing assumption that washing the vulva with plain water is the gentlest method. The authors present dermatologic and gynecologic evidence showing that water alone may disrupt the vulvar barrier, while mild, pH-balanced cleansers can better support hydration, comfort, and microbiota balance.

Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt, a Board-Certified ObGyn and certified menopause specialist, shares her insights on the importance of lactobacilli and vaginal pH, and why PCR tests are an invaluable part of her approach to vaginal diagnosis.  

The vaginal microbiome plays a foundational role in women’s health. Broad-spectrum quantitative PCR (qPCR) and shotgun metagenomic sequencing, offer distinct benefits and limitations. Understanding their comparative utility is critical for clinicians, researchers, and digital health platforms delivering vaginal health solutions.

Dr. Polly Watson, a board-certified OB-GYN with over 20 years of experience, is reshaping the way women approach hormonal health. Through a holistic, patient-centered approach, she empowers women to understand and manage their hormones with personalized care that extends beyond traditional prescriptions.

The vaginal microbiome, after so many years in the background, is now recognized as a key determinant of women’s health. For clinicians, this reframes BV as a critical point of intervention

Dr. Sonia Bahlani is an OB/GYN and urology-trained specialist who emphasizes a personalized, holistic approach to diagnosing and treating pelvic and vaginal pain.

Although not universally classified as a sexually transmitted infection, the study shows that BV may recur due to a combination of intrinsic disruptions to the vaginal microbiota and sexual transmission, with untreated male partners potentially playing a key role in its persistence.

While we often think of attraction as a mix of chemistry, personality, and looks, current research suggests that our microbiome may play a hidden role in who we’re drawn to and how we experience intimacy.