What Throws Your Vag Out Of Whack

- Ashley Oerman

PH stands for power of hydrogen, and it measures how acidic something is (the more hydrogen ions, the more acidic). Somewhat confusingly (hey, we don’t make the science rules!), 0 is the most acid-packed and 14 is the least. A healthy vagina is naturally acidic, with a pH sweet spot of around 3.8 to 4.5. And this is crucial because levels above 4.5 can make you more susceptible to STIs (including HIV) and bacterial vaginosis (BV), which thrive in less acidic environments, says Lauren Streicher, MD, medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause.

More proof that your pH is a BFD: New research has linked elevated vaginal levels to a higher risk for cervical cancer, likely because the less acid you have, the less able your bod is to fight off the sometimes cancer-causing HPV virus. So yeah, think of a primo pH as your first line of defense against all sorts of woes.

POTENTIAL pHAILS