Is it safe to wear a panty liner every day?

There are many women who wear panty liners every day due to heavy discharge, spotting or urinary incontinence; it's safe as long as you change the liner often and keep your vaginal area dry. Watch OB/GYN Jessica Shepherd, MD, explain these details.

Transcript

00:00

So the real issue becomes, how often do you change that panty liner? And are you giving your pelvis and your vagina

00:07

a moment to breathe? And you really want to keep that area dry. [GENTLE MUSIC]

00:18

Panty liner usage-- is it safe to use every day? I have a lot of patients who come to me, and quite frequently they say, I wear a panty liner every day.

00:26

Is that safe? It's not the fact that you wear a panty liner every day. There are some women who have heavier vaginal discharge,

00:33

which is normal. There are women who have irregular spotting. There are women who have urinary incontinence. So these are reasons that you do want to wear a panty liner.

00:44

So the real issue becomes, how often do you change that panty liner? And are you giving your pelvis and your vagina

00:51

a moment to breathe? And you really want to keep that area dry. This is where bacteria and fungus likes to thrive.

00:58

They like to grow in areas that have a lot of moisture. So if you're not keeping that area dry, this is going to increase your risk of having

01:06

vaginal infections, irritation, and we all know you don't want that.

01:13

So keys are to-- if you're going to use a panty liner every day, you're going to change that every four hours or less

01:20

and also keep that area dry. [GENTLE MUSIC] [WHOOSHES, HEART BEAT THUMPS, BEEPS]