Vaginal discharge

The emission of a viscid fluid via the vagina. Scant white vaginal discharge often occurs in healthy women. Only discharge that is profuse, bears an unnatural color, or gives off a malign odor is pathological. A copious clear white discharge without malodor is called white vaginal discharge and is caused by cold-damp pouring downward with spleen vacuity. A foul-smelling copious thick yellow discharge is called yellow vaginal discharge and is due to damp-heat pouring downward. A thick discharge that is white and red in color and bears a faint fishy smell is called red vaginal discharge, and arises when depressed liver qì transforms into heat, which damages the network vessels of the uterus. Modern research shows that continued red vaginal discharge is in some cases a sign of cancer. Malodorous vaginal discharge like rice water (water in which rice has been washed), yellow-green like pus, or multicolored, and attended by pudendal itch and soreness is a sign of damp toxin. See entries listed below.

Etymology

Chin 带 dài, belt, sash, strap; 下 xià, down. In early medical texts, the term referred to women’s diseases (disease below the belt); its specific use in denoting vaginal discharge may have been influenced by the interpretation of 带 as downward flow like an endless belt.