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Vaginal discharge
Category: Women's Health · All women's health symptoms
What it can feel like
Vaginal discharge is the fluid produced by the vagina and cervix that keeps the tissues healthy; its amount and consistency vary across the cycle and are normally clear or milky without strong odour. Discharge becomes a symptom when its colour, smell, amount or company (itching, soreness, pain) changes clearly from your normal.
Possible causes
A symptom can have many causes, and most are not serious. The lists below group conditions this symptom can be associated with — common causes first. They are possibilities to discuss with a clinician, not a diagnosis.
Common causes
Changed discharge can be associated with thrush (thick, white, itchy), bacterial vaginosis (thin, grey, fishy-smelling), normal hormonal variation, pregnancy, and a foreign body such as a forgotten tampon.
Other possible causes
Changed discharge can also be associated with sexually transmitted infections including chlamydia, gonorrhoea and trichomoniasis, with pelvic inflammatory disease when pain and fever join it, and rarely with a fistula or, in older women, with womb pathology when discharge is watery or blood-stained and persistent.
Red flags — when to seek help promptly
- Discharge with pelvic pain, fever or pain during sex — prompt assessment (possible pelvic infection)
- Blood-stained or watery discharge after the menopause
- Discharge with sores, blisters or severe itching
- Discharge in pregnancy that is blood-stained or waters leaking
- Discharge with a retained tampon and feeling unwell or feverish — urgent
What a clinician may do
A clinician will ask about the change, sexual history and contraception, examine with a speculum, and take swabs for thrush, bacterial vaginosis and sexually transmitted infections, plus a pregnancy test where relevant. Partners are offered testing and treatment when an infection is confirmed.
Watch: related videos
Examination and clinical videos from the MedicalVideos.com library relevant to this symptom. Some clinical footage is graphic — that is the nature of a medical video library.
Related guides on MedicalVideos.com
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell thrush from bacterial vaginosis?
Thrush typically gives thick white discharge with prominent itching and soreness and little odour. Bacterial vaginosis gives thin grey discharge with a fishy odour and little itching. They are treated oppositely, which is why swabbing beats guessing at the pharmacy counter.
Can discharge be a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease?
Discharge alone is usually local. When it arrives with deep pelvic pain, pain during sex, fever or bleeding between periods, the infection may have ascended to the womb and tubes (PID) — a combination to assess promptly because timely antibiotics protect fertility.
Related symptoms — Women's Health
Browse the V section of the A–Z list or return to the Symptoms A–Z hub.