📍What are the purported benefits?

Vaginal steaming is used as a natural remedy for cleaning the vagina, uterus, and the entire reproductive tract. But the purported claims don’t stop there.

📍It also allegedly relieves:

•stress
•depression
•haemorrhoids
•infections
•infertility
•hormone imbalances
•headaches
•fatigue
•digestive issues
•generalised pain

📍Does it really work?

There’s no scientific evidence to suggest that vaginal steaming helps any condition. According to OB-GYN Dr. Jen Gunter’s website, it’s clear as mud how steaming herbs are supposed to gain access to your uterus through a tightly closed cervix at the end of your vagina.

The herb used on Paltrow’s vagina was mugwort. In traditional Chinese medicine, moxibustion is the process of burning mugwort on or over a problematic area of the body or pressure point.

Moxibustion is used as an alternative therapy to treat a range of reproductive system problems. A 2010 look at several systematic reviewsTrusted Source found that except for correcting breech presentation in pregnancy, research on mugwort is contradictory and inconclusive. There’s no research vaginal moxibustion is helpful.

📍Does vaginal steaming really work?

There is no scientific evidence that vaginal steaming works. According to Dr. Manny Alvarez, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, vaginal steaming may help you relax but little else.

He claims there’s little chance herbal steam would penetrate vaginal tissues, let alone regulate hormones and improve fertility. One benefit may be that the moist heat from the steam increases blood flow to the vaginal area, though this isn’t well-studied. Considering this, a sitz bath or simply soaking in a warm tub might have the same effect.

Another view is that the reason for this being promoted is cultural, not physical. One study found that the reasons for this practice focused on “women’s bodies as deficient and disgusting” and propagated a negative female self-image.

Source- healthline.com