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What does white discharge mean?

Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS

Some white or clear discharge is the vagina's normal self-cleaning, changing texture across the cycle: stretchy near ovulation, thicker before periods. Odorless and itch-free means physiologic.

Thick white clumps with itching suggest yeast; gray-white with a fishy odor suggests bacterial vaginosis; yellow-green, frothy or with pelvic pain points to infections needing prompt treatment.

The vagina cleans itself: douching and scented washes cause the imbalances they claim to fix. Persistent changes deserve a swab and a diagnosis, not repeated guesswork with over-the-counter creams.

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