Restore Your Intimate & Vaginal Health

A healthy vaginal microbiome is usually dominated by Lactobacillus. These bacteria produce lactic acid, keep the pH low, and make it harder for other organisms to establish themselves. When that balance shifts, the symptoms are familiar: recurrent thrush, bacterial vaginosis, irritation, discharge, or an odour that keeps returning after treatment. The frustrating part is that treating the symptom doesn't always change what's underneath. If Lactobacillus levels stay low, the conditions that allowed the problem in the first place are still there. Our vaginal microbiome test sequences what's present — Lactobacillus species and levels, and the organisms most commonly involved when symptoms recur. That gives you and your practitioner something specific to work with, rather than another round of the same treatment. Oestrogen also shapes this. Lactobacillus depends on glycogen in the vaginal wall, and glycogen depends on oestrogen — which is why the microbiome often changes through perimenopause, after childbirth, or on hormonal contraception. If your symptoms started around one of those, hormone testing alongside this can be worth considering.

Standard urine testing looks for a small number of organisms that grow readily in culture. A lot of what lives in the urinary tract doesn't. The urinary tract was long assumed to be sterile. It isn't — it has its own microbial community, and disruption to it can drive symptoms even when a conventional test finds nothing. That's why some people are told their sample is clear while they're still clearly unwell. Our urinary tract test uses quantitative PCR to identify organisms directly, including E. coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. It's a urine sample you collect at home, posted back in a prepaid envelope. This is testing for people whose UTIs keep returning, or who want to understand a longer-running pattern. It takes around three weeks, so it isn't the right tool for an infection you have today — see a GP or pharmacist for that.

We'd rather you knew this before you order. What they give you: a detailed picture of which bacteria are present and in what quantities, from a sample you collect at home. That's information you can take to a GP or practitioner, and it's often the missing piece when a pattern has gone unexplained for a long time. What they don't give you: a diagnosis, or a treatment plan. These tests don't tell you which antibiotic to take, and they aren't a substitute for clinical assessment. Bacterial vaginosis and urinary tract infections are diagnosed by a clinician, taking your symptoms and examination into account alongside any test results. They're also not for urgent symptoms. Results take around three weeks. If you have fever, back or flank pain, blood in your urine, or symptoms that are getting worse, that needs same-day attention — contact your GP, NHS 111, or a pharmacist. Recurrent UTIs in particular are something the NHS can help with, and there are treatment pathways worth asking about.