The Amazing New Oxygenating Maxipad: Does It Really Work?

Americans have always been at the forefront of menstrual hygiene products. Long before women in other parts of the world had heard of tampons, women in the United States had tampons. And when American women, how to put this, noted deficiencies in the performance of tampons, American innovators produced soft cups and maxipads and absorbent underwear.

The latest innovation in women's personal hygiene products, however, comes from Asia. The TOM or the Total Oxygen Movement maxipad was developed for use in mostly East Asian countries where many women make heavy investments in skin lightening products. The marketing plan for the pad in Asia emphasized vaginal bleaching. In the United States, where relatively few women are interested in vaginal bleaching, the marketing emphasis is on comfort and health.

Why would women want an oxygenating maxipad? The manufacturer explains it like this:

• Many women find they are less likely to experience a leak when they use a pad instead of a tampon during their periods. Some women just prefer the way the pads feel.
• One of the problems with using pads during menstruation is that they can feel itchy, humid, and uncomfortable. This stuffy, damp, low-oxygen environment encourages bacteria and yeasts to grow. That's why some women get yeast infections every time they have their periods. It's also why some women have infections with anaerobic (oxygen-hating) bacteria that just won't go away.
• Oxygen breaks down pheomelanin, the pigment that makes the skin of the vagina relatively dark. If you can somehow oxygenate the vagina during the menstrual period, then natural bleaching will occur.

How would these new total O2 maxipads deal with these problems? The manufacturer claims that they break down water into oxygen. The oxygen kills both pathogenic, disease-causing bacteria and the bacteria that cause odor. The new pad keeps the vagina at an optimal pH. With this product, the vagina is at the "perfect" pH of 4.5. Healthy skin needs a pH of 4.5 to 5.5, the makers say, and a healthy vagina needs a pH of 3.8 to 4.5, so the pad fights off both the bacteria that cause vaginosis and the bacteria that cause skin infections?

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How do the pads generate this oxygen? It turns out, that's the tricky part. We don't really have an answer to this question. There are some possibilities:

• The pad contains itty bitty batteries that generate oxygen from water in vaginal secretions.
• The pad is impregnated with sodium perchlorate, which generates hydrogen peroxide that turns into oxygen in water-rich, slightly acidic environment. It's worth noting that this chemical is what DNA labs use to dissolve cells to collect DNA.
• The pad contains a tiny radio transmitter that sends out radio waves at 43 megahertz. And some people talk about getting television in the fillings of their teeth.
• The pad generates ultrasound at about 40 kilohertz. At least one study, cited below, associates this with a "hypersonic effect," which alters brain waves.
• The pad heats the vagina to 1000 degrees Celsius. That would smart.
• The pad emits laser light that photodissociates water into hydrogen and oxygen, which would also smart, because hydrogen is flammable.
• The pad somehow selectively allows oxygen to flow in from the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, none of these things is going on in the pad. The claims about oxygen production are false. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Increased oxygen in the vagina and vulva is one of the causes of toxic shock syndrome. And the vagina isn't naturally oxygenated. OB-GYN Dr. Jen Gunter says that the natural oxygen pressure in the vagina is 4 to 7 mm Hg. The natural oxygen pressure in the atmosphere is 160 mm Hg. In other words, the vagina is supposed to have about 2 to 4 percent as much oxygen as room O2.

So, Is the New MaxiPad Useful for Vaginal Bleaching?

It really shouldn't come as a great shock that the popular new product doesn't work for vaginal bleaching, either. Think about it. You breathe oxygen through your nose 24 hours a day, 365 (or 366) days a year. The skin under your nose doesn't turn white, does it? 

If the pads somehow really did bring the oxygen concentration of the vagina up to atmospheric levels, without leakage into the vulva, then using 3 or 4 pads a day for a year would still not generate enough oxygen to produce hydrogen peroxide that lightens pigments. It is really hard to imagine how the product works, but to sell it in North America, the company will have to do its own explaining.

If products like this don't bleach the vagina, what does? Of course, many readers in certain parts of the world, will find the whole idea strange, but women's personal preferences ought to be respected.

Here are some things that have been tried over the years:

• Visible red light breaks down the pigment rhodopsin, and may lighten the redness of the vagina. This process works with visible red light, not infrared light, and more light (generating heat) is not necessarily better. A red light lamp shining to the desired places about 20 minutes a day for about two months may help, but rhodopsin is not the only pigment in the skin of the vagina. There is, by the way, only one study in the medical literature about this, and it's over 60 years old, written by a researcher whose primary interest was color changes in squid.

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• Some of the products used in Asia for this purpose contain a chemical called hydroquinone. It will remove brown pigments from skin. There's just one problem with using this chemical, particularly if you have Asian heritage. Some people who have yellow skin tones lack a gene that the body needs to process the amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine. (This genetic defect is also associated with alcohol intolerance.) They are at risk of a condition called ochronosis. For them, hydroquinone does indeed remove brown pigments, but replaces them with purple.
• A safer option for most women who want to lighten skin tone of the vagina is kojic acid. Although it's an "acid," bleaches dilute it so its pH is slightly more alkaline than the skin itself. Kojic acid is a "natural" product, extracted from, ironically, a fungus that is ordinarily associated with fungal infections. However, there is no fungus in the bleaching product.

Darkening of the vagina can be a medical concern. If dark brown or black spots appear, or if there clusters of blue or purple blotches, it's a good idea to see your doctor soon.