So there’s this fad that’s gaining popularity at the moment called a ‘womb detox’ where women are buying little bags of perfumed herbs and shoving up their vaginas……..yeah, I know.

They’re called Herbal Womb Detox Pearls and are basically little balls in sets of three that you put up there for three days to “cleanse the womb”. The manufacturer, US company Embrace Pangaea, says they are meant to alleviate conditions such as endometriosis, thrush and ovarian cysts. And they’ve got a special type that can help with vaginal tightening.

I’m not being funny, but no matter how attractive the marketing might appear, there is not much aside from advice from a qualified GP that could convince me of shoving anything remotely medicinal or treatment-related up there.

Nonetheless, turns out these little bags of joy have been selling pretty well, at over £300 a pop in some packages.

As a result various experts have spoken out saying that this fad could be pretty dangerous. Well duh.

Gynaecologist, Jen Gunter, said:

Leaving a product that is not designed for prolonged vaginal use (and these are not) in the vagina is a risk for toxic shock syndrome. Just don’t do it.

Many plant products and extracts are irritating and certainly none of the claimed contents have been tested for vaginal use.

God knows what is in the “vaginal tightening” pearls, but I imagine something caustic or drying – both really bad.

What happens when you leave something in a vagina for three days is that anaerobic (not good) bacteria grow.

I have removed many retained tampons over my career and the smell is so bad we typically have to close the exam room for the rest of the day.

Yes, you read that right. Bad bacteria smells bad – this smell alerts you there is a serious issue somewhere.

Tamieka Atkinson, owner of Embrace Pangaea, spoke against this view, saying that their product has no claims of curing, diagnosing or treating disease, and that they have had various women who received positive benefits from them.

I’ve got to say, I’m with Jen on this one. I just find it shocking that people are actually buying into this, especially if they’ve got bigger issues like endometriosis or ovarian cysts. Surely putting glorified teabags up there is going to make it worse. Although there are definitely worse things that you could put up there — like this woman who got caught with a loaded gun inside of her.