It’s not often that a reputable company gets savagely attacked in the media for a product that has helped thousands of people, but that’s what happened this week when Dr. Jen Gunter assaulted our Good Clean Love BiopHresh® Vaginal Suppositories in her The Vagenda blog. She called the product a scam, claimed (erroneously) that there is no proof that our homeopathic and probiotic ingredients are effective, and continued a theme presented in an earlier blog post claiming that feminine hygiene companies make their money by shaming women about their bodies.

We vociferously beg to differ. And so do the many women who tell us our products have changed their life.

We have been selling our vaginal suppositories for three years. Our ingredients are scientifically shown to reduce symptoms related to recurrent bacterial vaginosis. OB/GYNs, urogynecologists, gynecological oncologists, pelvic floor and sexual health therapists, and others regularly recommend them for symptoms of BV. Patients call them “miracle capsules.”

Here’s what you need to know about our suppositories. Contrary to Dr. Gunter’s claims:

• Homeopathy is the most widely used system of alternative medicine worldwide. It is also currently the fastest-growing system of medicine worldwide and has been widely used for decades to treat a variety of vaginal conditions. No less an authority than Kaiser Permanente recommends homeopathic remedies – including our #1 active ingredient, Kreosotum – for yeast infections.
• Kreosotum (kreosote) and Nitricum Acidum (nitric acid), our #1 and #2 active ingredients, are homeopathics that relieve irritation of the vaginal mucosa. These remedies were chosen based on an extensive record of clinical efficacy in relieving symptoms of bacterial vaginosis as reported in Clarke’s Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, an authoritative reference work drawing from clinical cases published in homeopathic journals. Both ingredients are toxic in their crude state, but diluted in our suppositories to less than 1 part per trillion, well beyond the minimum safe dilution level specified by the US Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia.
• The use of the probiotic Lactobacilli to nourish the vagina is widely studied. Probiotics serve the vaginal biome similarly to how they serve the gut biome - by repopulating good strains of bacteria in the vaginal tract. Women whose vaginal biomes contain more robust lactobacilli (healthy bacteria) tend to have a more stable environment. While the science is still relatively new, it is largely understood that a vaginal tract with strong lactobacilli is a healthier one.

At the end of the day, as the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. Many women who use our vaginal suppositories as well as our other products find relief that they cannot get anywhere else. And medical physicians say the same.

“With all due respect to Dr. Gunter, I disagree with her conclusions,” said Dr. Cathy Yi, a Concord-based gynecologist specializing in pelvic medicine. “I have found Good Clean Love products, including their vaginal suppositories to be a game changer for many of my patients. There is no harm in expanding our options to include probiotics, educating patients to stop douching, and recommending vaginal products that maintain a healthy lactobacilli dominance. I for one am advocating for my patients and looking into all options.”

So, Dr. Gunter, we aren’t running a scam here. We’ve been in business for nearly 20 years, and we’ve bent over backwards to help women across the country maintain their vaginal health without the chemicals in most lubricants and other feminine hygiene products (hence our name, Good Clean Love). Try our products with your patients. Try them yourself. We trust you will change your opinion.