Vaginitis may be characterized by any of the following - vaginal discharge containing many white blood cells (WBCs), vulvar itching, vulvar irritation, vaginal odor, vaginal erythema, dyspareunia, and dysuria.Maintaining adequate intimate hygiene can help prevent vaginal infections. Women across the globe use several intimate hygiene products as part of their daily cleansing routine.Essential oils obtained from plants have antimicrobial, fungicidal and insecticidal activities. These essential oils are strong antimicrobial agents. Lavender essential oil is known to treat vaginal infections. It also relieves cystitis and other inflammations.Lavender essential oil has been traditionally known to have sedative, carminative, anti-depressive, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects.Lavender oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties against many bacterial species.A study assessed the antibacterial activities of essential oils extracted from palmarosa (Cymbopogon martini), evening primrose (Primula rosea), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and tuberose (Polianthus tuberosa) against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria showed susceptibility to the studied essential oils.Behmanesh et al studied the effect of lavender essential oil and clotrimazole on isolated Candida albicans from vaginal candidiasis. The comparison between the lavender and clotrimazole groups using Mann-Whitney test showed that the fungal cell count after 24 hours, in dilutions of 1/20 and 1/40 and 1/160, had significant difference between the two groups. In these dilutions, during the first 24 hours, cell counts of fungi in lavender group were lower than the clotrimazole group. Using the Wilcoxon test, the comparison of the clotrimazole group after 24 h and 48 h showed that there was a significant difference between the fungal cell count for dilutions of 1/10, 1/20, 1/40, 1/80, and 1/160, and its average in 48 h was less than 24 h. In the lavender group, a significant difference was observed between the two periods for dilutions of 1/20 and 1/80. In this group, the average fungal cell count was also lower after 48 h. Lavender was thus found to have antifungal activity, and can be used as an antifungal agent.6Another study evaluated the antifungal activity of lavender essential oil against 50 clinical isolates of Candida albicans (28 oropharyngeal strains, 22 vaginal strains) and C. albicans ATCC 3153. Lavender oil inhibited C. albicans growth with a mean minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.69% (vol./vol.) for vaginal strains and 1.04% for oropharyngeal strains. Lavender oil killed 100% of the C. albicans ATCC 3153 cells within 15 min. The oil shows both fungistatic and fungicidal activity against C. albicans strains. It limits fungal progression and the spread of infection in host tissues.7Additionally, lavender is a common component of perfumes, soaps, etc., and has calming properties.8Lavender oil thus seems to be a potential topical agent that can fight vaginal infections and the malodor associated with the vaginal discharge in the infection.

References

1. Ranjit E, Raghubanshi BR, Maskey S, Parajuli P. Prevalence of Bacterial Vaginosis and Its Association with Risk Factors among Nonpregnant Women: A Hospital Based Study. Int J Microbiol. 2018; 2018: 8349601.
2. Chen Y, Bruning E, Rubino J, Eder SE. Role of female intimate hygiene in vulvovaginal health: Global hygiene practices and product usage. Women’s Health 2017;13(3):58–67.
3. Lodhia MH, Bhatt KR, Thaker VS. Antibacterial Activity of Essential Oils from Palmarosa, Evening Primrose, Lavender and Tuberose. Indian J Pharm Sci. 2009 Mar-Apr; 71(2): 134–136.
4. Cavanagh HMA, Wilkinson JM. Lavender essential oil: a review. Australian Infection Control 2005;10(1):35-37.
5. Ali B, Al-Wabel NA, Shams S, et al. Essential oils used in aromatherapy: A systemic review. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine 2015;5(8):601-611.
6. Behmanesh F, Pasha H, Sefidgar AA, et al. Antifungal Effect of Lavender Essential Oil (Lavandula angustifolia) and Clotrimazole on Candida albicans: An In Vitro Study. Scientifica (Cairo). 2015; 2015: 261397.
7. DAuria FD, Tecca M, Strippoli V, et al. Antifungal activity of Lavandula angustifolia essential oil against Candida albicans yeast and mycelial form. Medical Mycology 2005;43(5):391-6.
8. Koulivand PH, Ghadiri MK, Gorji A. Lavender and the Nervous System. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013; 2013: 681304.