What is vaginal discharge?

If you don’t already know, vaginal discharge between periods is normal/standard. It can change in color and texture depending where you are in your cycle, but it’s usually creamy-clear and mucus-like. But…what is it?!

The vagina is a special place. It is an opening from the outside of the world to the inside of our bodies so it needs to provide some protection against bad bacteria and other organisms. In order to do this it must be kept at a certain pH (acidic). How does it do this? We have a good bacteria that live in the vagina that produce acid and balance the vagina pH. To keep the bacteria alive, the cells that line the vagina have to create food for the bacteria (glucose). Lots of business happening in the vagina, right?! So of course there will some byproducts: bacteria, dead skin cells, mucus and water. This is vaginal discharge!