First, What is the Difference Between These Issues?

Bacterial vaginosis is an imbalance of vaginal bacteria. It happens when protective bacteria decline and potentially harmful bacteria overgrow, often causing thin gray or white discharge, odor, or irritation. Some women have BV with very mild or no symptoms.

Yeast infections are an overgrowth of yeast (usually Candida) in the vagina. It commonly causes thick white discharge, itching, redness, and irritation, and is often triggered by changes in hormones, antibiotics, stress, or immune shifts. It is often known as ‘thrush’.

A UTI is an infection of the urinary tract (most often the bladder), usually caused by bacteria entering the urethra and travelling up to the bladder. A UTI can cause burning with urination, urgency, increased frequency, pressure, or discomfort.

What Can Silky Peach Do?

Silky Peach is a bioidentical estriol cream that helps replenish the estrogen reserves that decline during menopause.

As we enter our fifties, our estrogen levels (and our DHEA) continue to decline - something that progesterone has been doing for a while. There are different types of estrogen and we go into more detail about each of the types of estrogen, here, but, in a nutshell, estrogen is important for vaginal health as it helps maintain things like:

🧬Skin cell strength and integrity

💦The mucous membrane

🧪pH levels

✨Collagen reserves

Without it, vaginal dryness becomes much more likely.

Silky Peach helps maintain the estrogen reserves, very specifically estriol, the gentlest form of estrogen, so your tender tissues can stay strong and supple. You start Silky Peach thinking of all these good things, and then BV or a UTI shows up… so what gives?!

Silky Peach and BV

With estrogen loss, we lose glycogen. Glycogen is the food source for lactobacillus. Lactobacillus is the bacteria that keeps the vagina acidic by producing hydrogen peroxide. With lack of glycogen, there isn't an appropriate food source for lactobacillus, so they dwindle and the pH rises, making it a more hospitable environment for other bacteria (in particular, those associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV)). Many women are hanging out with low grade BV and don't even know it. So, when they introduce E3 (estriol) and the pH starts to shift it makes the BV more apparent - thus people think it gave them BV, when, in fact, it just highlighted what was already there. In time, the glycogen layer returns, giving lactobacillus access to the food supply needed to flourish again and keep a healthy pH.

Silky Peach and UTI’s

Silky Peach should not be applied near the urethral opening, nor should anything else. Anything applied to the urethral opening can do two things; firstly, be an irritant, and secondly, increase the risk of bacterial transfer. Because everything is colocated (anus, perineum, vaginal opening, urethral opening) when we apply creams we have to make sure that our hands are clean, and that we are also being careful in regard to clothing.

Think of it this way, we slather on cream and then wriggle into some yoga pants. The cream and the pants are moving as we move, meaning things like sweat, skin cells, and fecal bacteria are also moving. Giving Silky Peach time to absorb, wiping off excess, or wearing loose, cotton clothing are all ways that we can minimize transfer risk.

Silky Peach and Yeast Infections

This is where things get a little interesting; you can read in-depth about yeast infections, here.

There is a link between estrogen and yeast levels. There is a dance that plays out. While low levels of estrogen result in changes to vaginal tissue - high levels of estrogen are not the answer. Studies have shown that high estrogen levels do not stop the growth or invasion of 'candida albicans' (a.k.a. thrush); this means there is increased likelihood of developing yeast infections when estrogen levels are high. Another reason that excess estrogen in the body plays such a big role in contributing to yeast infections is because estrogen controls levels of glycogen in the vagina. So, the more estrogen in the body that’s produced, the more it will feed yeast production and overgrowth. So, for some women, estrogen can increase yeast to a point that triggers a yeast infection. In this case, women will typically stop using Silky Peach Cream to allow the system to settle down and rebalance itself. Critical to keeping yeast infections at bay is a low sugar food plan because dietary sugar can also contribute to increased yeast growth.

Discovering the Source

This is where talking to your practitioner can be incredibly helpful; BV, yeast, and UTI’s all need to be treated - and your practitioner knows you and your body best.

As noted, Silky Peach can highlight when things are already out of balance and while Silky Peach can help keep the environment of the vagina and vulva optimal, it cannot correct an underlying bacterial issue.

Should I Keep Using My Silky Peach? What to do, what to do?

For a woman struggling with vaginal issues beyond atrophy, minimizing all the vaginal variables is key - and that includes Silky Peach.

When our vaginas are out-of-sorts, we want to strip away things that can cause more issues - think scented soaps, flavored lubes, synthetic fabrics… even semen can be disruptive! This doesn’t mean avoid intimacy, just be sure to rinse off afterwards.

Many of our customers will choose to hold off using Silky Peach when there is an active bacterial issue but once resolved they will restart slowly and steadily to find their individual sweet spot. Every woman is different, her vaginal microbiome is different, the beauty of Silky Peach cream is that it is easy to vary and adjust your use so you can find a sequence that works best for you.

Watch Dr. Robyn talk about this in more depth, here!