Why does discharge turn brown?
Brown discharge is almost always older blood. It has taken longer to travel from the uterus or cervix and out of the body, and oxidised blood looks brown or dark rather than red. A single episode after sex, especially close to your period, is common and usually nothing to worry about. What matters more than the colour is whether it keeps happening. Look out, too, for anything that comes with it: pain, an unusual smell, or bleeding at other times in your cycle.
Could it be cervical ectropion?
Cervical ectropion is a common, usually harmless finding. The softer, glandular cells that normally line the inside of the cervical canal sit on the outer surface of the cervix instead. Because these cells are more delicate, they can bleed slightly with contact during sex, which shows up as spotting or brown discharge afterwards. It isn't an infection and usually needs no treatment unless the bleeding bothers you. It is diagnosed by examination rather than by symptoms, though, so it's worth having it checked.
Could it be an infection?
Chlamydia and gonorrhoea can both cause bleeding or spotting after sex, often with no other symptom at all. An infection and a harmless cause such as ectropion or old blood can look identical from the outside, so a test is the reliable way to tell them apart.
Our chlamydia test and gonorrhoea test are £104 each, with urine and swab results within 3 working days. If you'd rather know the same day, the FAST Screen returns all results in 6 hours. FAST Screen Simple is £350 and covers HIV, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea, and FAST Screen Complex is £450 and adds hepatitis B and C. Our guide to same-day results explains how it works.
Is it linked to my smear test?
Not directly. Cervical screening (a smear test) is designed for people without symptoms, so repeated bleeding after sex is checked by a clinician examining the cervix. 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 is always worth examining.
When is a gynaecological check worth booking?
Bleeding after sex that happens more than once deserves a proper look, because the cause can't be read 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.
Perhaps your STI test is clear and the bleeding continues, or you'd rather start with an examination. Our colleagues at Gynae Clinic have written about bleeding after sex and offer assessment for it. If brown discharge isn't the only change you've noticed, our broader discharge guide covers other patterns.
How testing works at our Harley Street clinic
The Bronze package covers chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV and syphilis. Higher tiers add Mycoplasma genitalium, Ureaplasma, Gardnerella, herpes, trichomoniasis, hepatitis and HPV. Samples are a blood test and a swab, which you can often take yourself. Results for blood tests come back in about 24 hours, and urine and swab results within 3 working days, 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 our private STI testing in London.
Book a women's screening package at 117a Harley Street to check for 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
