What is Normal Discharge: For Men & Women
Discharge takes up about 50% of my day. You heard that right. It can be hard to figure out what is normal and what is frightening, so let’s break it down.
Men
You should not have discharge spontaneously come out of your penis. Often guys will say, “Well if I push really hard sometimes a little clear stuff comes out.” Okay, so don’t push hard, you goofball.
Spontaneous, yellow to green discharge from your penis is not okay. That means you don’t have to do anything for discharge to come out. Do you pull down your boxers to use the bathroom and there is yellow or green thin to pus-like fluid on your boxers? Yeah. That is a sign of a potential infection like Chlamydia and/or Gonorrhea. Go get that checked out.
Women
You should have vaginal discharge if you have a vagina. It is okay. I repeat, it is okay.
Typically your vaginal discharge changes through the month. If you are on combined hormonal birth control (like pills, the patch, or the ring), you may notice fewer changes because you are not always ovulatory. It may always be a small amount, white to clear, and relatively thick due to the hormonal birth control.
Before and after ovulation your discharge should be clear, white, or light yellow and relatively thick.
During ovulation (about two weeks after your period started), it can feel like there are about a half dozen egg whites coming out of your vagina. It is often more clear and can have a gelatinous or “egg white” consistency.
Your regular discharge DOES NOT SMELL. Your coworker, the person next to you on the train, or other people at the gym CANNOT smell you. If you think your genitals smell kind of musky, or like your body odor, that is okay and normal.
Bacterial infections DO smell. A bacterial infection can have many symptoms or none at all. Typical symptoms are: thin, white to gray, very odorous discharge. This discharge is often described as “fishy”.
Yeast infections can present in different ways, but their textbook appearance is white, thick, clumpy vaginal discharge that causes itching inside the vagina and often outside on the vulva.
I’ll definitely dive into these subtopics in greater detail in future posts, so no worries there. If you have questions, or would like to see me go into detail on a specific area, email me at: noawkwardquestion@gmail.com
