article_snippet.sent: Her story follows research at the University of California, Los Angeles, which found women who use shower gels and soaps in intimate areas are putting women who use shower gels and soaps in intimate areas at higher risk of developing BV.
article_snippet.sent: Study leader Joelle Brown said there is ‘mounting evidence’ that using these products internally can also increase the risk of bacterial vaginosis.
article_snippet.sent: Study leader Joelle Brown's team recruited 141 women in Los Angeles who agreed to answer questionnaires about Dr Brown's team product use and undergo lab tests for vaginal infections.
article_snippet.sent: Dr Brown's team found that 66 per cent of the women reported using lubricants and cleansers internally.
article_snippet.sent: The most commonly used products were sexual lubricants - 70 per cent of the product-using group used commercial lubricants, while 17 per cent reported using petroleum jelly and 13 per cent used oils.
article_snippet.sent: Test results showed that the women who used products not intended for internal use, such as oils and Vaseline, were more likely to have yeast and bacterial infections.
article_snippet.sent: For instance, 40 per cent of the women who used petroleum jelly as a lubricant had bacterial vaginosis - an infection that can be caused by a number of common bacterial species - compared to 18 per cent of women who did not insert petroleum jelly.