Why does discharge turn brown?
Brown discharge is almost always blood that is older, meaning it has taken longer to travel from the uterus or cervix and out of the body, and oxidised blood appears brown or dark rather than red. A single episode of brown discharge after sex, especially close to your period, is common and usually not a cause for concern. What matters more than the colour on its own is whether it happens once or repeatedly, and whether anything else comes with it, such as pain, an unusual smell, or bleeding at other times in your cycle.
Could it be cervical ectropion?
Cervical ectropion is a common, usually harmless condition where the softer, glandular cells that normally line the inside of the cervical canal are present on the outer surface of the cervix instead. Because these cells are more delicate, they can bleed slightly with contact during sex, causing spotting or brown discharge afterwards. It is not an infection and does not usually need treatment unless the bleeding is bothersome, but it is diagnosed by examination rather than by symptoms alone, so it is worth having checked rather than assumed.
Could it be an infection?
Chlamydia and gonorrhoea can both cause bleeding or spotting after sex, and either can be present without any other symptom at all. Because an infection cause and a benign cause such as ectropion or old blood can look identical from the outside, testing is the only reliable way to tell them apart. Our chlamydia test is £104, with results in 3 days. The gonorrhoea test is also £104, with results in 3 days.
Is it linked to my smear test?
Not directly. Cervical screening (a smear test) is for people without symptoms, so it is not the right test for bleeding after sex; repeated bleeding needs a clinician to examine the cervix instead. If your screening is overdue, mention it at that appointment so it can be brought up to date. Rarely, bleeding after sex is caused by changes on the cervix, including cervical cancer, which is why repeated bleeding should be examined rather than assumed to be harmless.
When does it need a gynaecological check rather than an STI test?
Bleeding after sex that happens more than once needs a proper look, since a single cause cannot be assumed from symptoms alone. See a doctor promptly if you are pregnant, if you have been through the menopause, or if the bleeding comes with pelvic pain or fever. If your STI test comes back clear and the bleeding continues, or if you would rather start with an examination, our colleagues at Gynae Clinic have written on bleeding after sex and offer assessment for this. Our own broader discharge guide covers other discharge patterns if brown discharge is not the only change you've noticed.
How testing works at our Harley Street clinic
Our screening packages for women start with the Bronze package at £250 (chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV, syphilis) and can be extended to include Mycoplasma genitalium, Ureaplasma, Gardnerella, herpes, trichomoniasis, hepatitis and HPV at higher tiers. Samples are a blood test and a swab, which can often be self-taken, with results delivered confidentially by phone or text. You can walk in seven days a week at 117A Harley Street. The visit is confidential, as with all of our private STI testing in London.
Book a women's screening package at 117a Harley Street to rule out infection as a cause of brown discharge after sex.
References
- Vaginal discharge, NHS
- Bleeding after sex, NHS
- Cervical screening, NHS
- Chlamydia, NHS
- Management of vaginal discharge, BASHH
