Sanitary pads can be changed once in 3 – 6 hours. Women who have heavy flow can change once in 2 – 3 hours. Women with average flow can change once in 6 hours. Menstrual pads must not be flushed down the toilet as they can cause blockages. Choose a pad with appropriate thickness, absorbency, shape and style. Wearing the same pad for a long time gives you a wet feeling. Bad odour also starts coming. Some women wear pads all the time, irrespective of the periods, thinking that it keeps them fresh, but it is not true. The vagina also needs to breathe, therefore wear light cotton underwears when you are not in periods. Maintain hygiene. Take shower atleast once a day. Change the undergarments regularly. Wash the genitalia with plain water. Maintain hygiene by washing hands while changing pads. Clean your vulvovaginal area. You can also use a pH maintaining feminine wash. One word about tampons. If you don’t change tampons in time, it can cause toxic shock syndrome due to bacterial toxins. Do not use deodrants near the vulvovaginal area. Prolonged use of sanitary pads cannot cause cervical cancer as we know, cervical cancer is caused by HPV virus. Harmful chemicals like dioxine is used to bleach the cotton in the sanitary napkins, which is linked with side effects like pelvic inflammatory disease, ovarian cancer, damage to the immune system, impaired fertility and diabetes and impaired thyroid function. Therefore we all can swich on to use organic sanitary napkins, organic cloth pads and menstrual cups.

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