Testing vagina acidity with litmus paper?!
Question: Vagina acidity is 4.5, right? How do gynecologists test vagina acidity with litmus paper? And which one is used, blue or red?
Answers: Vagina acidity is 4.5, right? How do gynecologists test vagina acidity with litmus paper? And which one is used, blue or red?
Normal vaginal pH can be from 3.8 to 4.5.
Vaginal pH that is greater than 4.5 can indicate the presence of an infection (from bacterial vaginosis, trichomoniasis, or infection from a foreign object in the vagina) or it may be caused by the start of menstruation, semen, increased cervical mucus.
Yeast prefer to grow at a pH of 4.5 or less.
You can buy special pH paper from Vagisil, the cost is about $16.99. Or you can go to a store that sells scientific supplies and request litmus paper with a narrow range, if I were buying it I would get litmus paper with a range of 3.5 to 6, or so.
Usually the vaginal pH can be measured using pH papers or a hand held digital pH meter. As for as the pH paper is concerned it depend upon its absorptivity as well as your ability to determine visually. Usually the vaginal pH is acidic. So, for accurate measurements, pH paper which comes in range should be used (which is, infact, cheap).
If there is any change in bacterial flora in vagina, then it leads to decreased pH (lower than 4.5).
Just using blue litmus won't help. Blue litmus at any acidic condition turns from Blue to Red (short code is BRA = blue to red acid).