Douching is washing or cleaning out the vagina (also called the birth canal) with water or other mixtures of fluids. Usually douches are prepackaged mixes of water and vinegar, baking soda, or iodine. Women can buy these products at drug and grocery stores. The mixtures usually come in a bottle and can be squirted into the vagina through a tube or nozzle.
Women douche because they mistakenly believe it gives many benefits. In reality, douching may do more harm than good. Douching can change the delicate balance of organisms in a healthy/normal vagina. This may make a woman more prone to vaginal infections. Douching can spread existing vaginal infections up into the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.
Most doctors recommend that women avoid douching completely. Douching does not prevent pregnancy and should never be used as a means of birth control. Actually, douching may make it easier to get pregnant by pushing the sperm further up into the vagina and cervix.