Yeast is a fungus normally found on your skin. It’s also found in your digestive system. If you’re a woman, you also have yeast in your vaginal area. When too much yeast grows on your skin or other areas, it can cause an infection. This infection is also called candidiasis....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
A yeast infection can happen if your skin gets damaged. Yeast can also “overgrow” in warm or humid conditions. An infection can also happen if you have a weak immune system. Taking antibiotics can also cause an overgrowth of yeast. That’s because antibiotics kill the healthy bacteria in your body that normally keep the yeast in balance.
Vaginal yeast infections are also called vulvovaginal candidiasis or vaginal candidiasis. A vaginal yeast infection is actually a type of vaginitis, a condition where the vagina is swollen, painful and creates a discharge. There are several types of vaginitis—each with similar symptoms—but vaginal yeast infections are one of the most common.
Symptoms Of Vaginal Yeast Infections
How can you detect you have the vaginal yeast infections? The infection has a set of common symptoms that will help you identify it with ease. So, check out for the following:
Itching in the private parts
Swelling around the private organ
Painful matting
Burning sensation during urination
Soreness in the vaginal region
Redness, Rash or Irritation
Watery Vaginal Discharge
Clumpy, whitish-grey vaginal discharge (resembling cottage cheese)
If you see the symptoms, then you need to contact your doctor immediately. The untreated infection can lead to severe complication. Therefore, you need to take action to avoid the severity of the problem.
Why do vaginal yeast infections happen?
The loss of chemical balance in your organ can cause candida to multiply. This can happen for a lot of reasons, including:
When you take an antibiotic medication that’s treating an infection of any type—a urinary tract infection is one example. While treating this infection, good bacteria in the area is killed. This good bacteria was responsible for keeping the yeast in check. Without it, the balance is thrown off, leading to a yeast infection.
During pregnancy and while using hormonal contraceptives (birth control). Your hormones can be all over the charts during pregnancy. This change in your hormones can disrupt the balance of candida.
If you have diabetes. When you have diabetes, there is too much sugar in your urine and the vagina is impacted by this surplus of sugar.
Having a weakened immune system. If you have a disease, like HIV or AIDS, your medications can suppress your immune system.
How is yeast infection treated?
Can a yeast infection be prevented?
You can prevent some yeast infections by doing these things:
Use good oral hygiene to help prevent yeast infection in your mouth (thrush). This includes brushing and flossing your teeth every day and using mouthwash as needed.
Wear cotton underwear to help to prevent a vaginal or genital yeast infection.
Keep areas where skin rubs up against skin dry and try to reduce friction.
Complications From Untreated Yeast Infections
1. Oral thrush is a yeast infection of the mouth. This condition is especially common in infants and young children. Symptoms of oral thrush include a white film over the tongue, white-covered sores in your mouth, a lingering bad taste, pain when swallowing, and redness or inflammation on the inside of your cheeks or in your throat.
Some people are more likely to develop oral thrush. Risk factors include diabetes, a diet high in sugar, poor oral hygiene, dry mouth, and immunosuppression. Since yeast feeds on sugar and grows in moist, dark environments, these conditions can exacerbate oral thrush.
If patients leave oral thrush untreated, the candidiasis may travel to their esophagus or—more rarely and more deadly—into their bloodstream. Over time, oral thrush can result in growing sores on the tongue, cheeks, lips, gums, and in your throat. This irritation can make it difficult to eat, drink, or speak.
Your healthcare provider may recommend you treat your oral thrush with an antifungal pill, a medicated oral solution, drinking plenty of water to dissuade further yeast growth, and rinsing your mouth with salt water or diluted hydrogen peroxide.
2. Balanitis; Around ten percent of males will develop balanitis—irritation near the head of the penis, often caused by a yeast infection. Candida can multiply in folds of the skin, where moisture can develop or where people may not wash effectively. If you are uncircumcised, you are more likely to develop balanitis on or around the foreskin.
Without treatment, balanitis can lead to balanoposthitis or inflammation of the foreskin. This swelling, redness, and irritation make urinating and intercourse painful.
Treatment for balanitis may include a medicated cream, washing with water and unscented soap, and, in rare cases of more severe, chronic balanitis, circumcision.
3. Other Skin Yeast Infections; You may develop candidiasis elsewhere on your skin. Potential locations for yeast infections include the folds of skin on your stomach, thighs, breasts, anus, toes, and between your buttocks. Depending on where you experience your infection, your symptoms may be different.
However, many people report burning, itching, redness, and minor swelling during their candidiasis. No matter where candidiasis is located on your body, you may have negative health impacts if you do not treat it. Your irritated skin can lead to other skin infections and more severe pain.
Throughout your life, you may experience a vaginal yeast infection several times. Though uncomfortable, these infections are common. A vaginal yeast infection is a condition characterized by burning, itching, redness, and a white discharge from the vagina and vulva. These infections are caused by something that’s already in your body—a fungal body (yeast) called candida.
Yeast is a type of fungus and candida is a specific type of yeast. When this yeast is balanced with the ecosystem of your body, there are no problems. But when that balance is disrupted, the yeast rapidly grows and you can get a yeast infection.
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