Flourish Vaginal Care System to Establish Neovaginal Microbiome
- Conditions
- Neovaginal Microbiome
- Registration Number
- NCT05372770
- Lead Sponsor
- Vaginal Biome Science
- Brief Summary
This study examines whether use of a commercially-available vaginal wellness system is able to establish a microbiome in transgender women.
- Detailed Description
Very little is known about the neovaginal microbiome, but it has been described as being a polymicrobial state similar to bacterial vaginosis (BV) in cis women. The Flourish Vaginal Care System is a commercially-available over-the-counter vaginal wellness kit that helps relieve symptoms of BV. This study is intended to determine whether that kit could also help transgender women who have recently undergone gender-confirming surgery to establish a neovaginal microbiome that is dominated by lactobacilli, as observed in healthy cis women. This could increase health and subjective satisfaction of the neovagina. This study examines the (neo)vaginal microbiome in transgender women with and without using Flourish, as well as a group of healthy cisgender women.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 56
- Transgender women over age 18 who are preparing to undergo gender-confirmation surgery.
- Healthy cisgender women ages 18-52
- Immunosuppressed
- Known allergies or sensitivities to aloe vera or to other components of Restore®, Balance, or BiopHresh®
- Known (neo)vaginal infection that is not yeast or BV at start of protocol
- Inability to tolerate Restore gel by day 13 after surgery.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Vaginal microbiome Collections at time 0, 6 weeks, and 6 months Observation of changes in the composition of the vaginal fluid microbiome over six months using commercially available next-generation sequencing kit (16s rRNA). Biomes will be categorized to "community state type" (Ravel 2011), and genus- or species-level relative abundance will be compared.
Vaginal pH Collections at time 0, 6 weeks, and 6 months Observation of changes in vaginal pH over six months by pH strip
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method VSQ Collections at time 0, 6 weeks, and 6 months Responses to the Vulvovaginal Symptoms Questionnaire
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Papillon Wellness Center
🇺🇸New Hope, Pennsylvania, United States
Papillon Wellness Center🇺🇸New Hope, Pennsylvania, United States