There's a nasty rumor that's been around for years that women in need of a yeast infection cure should look no further than the produce aisle. The myth states that the simple act of inserting a garlic clove into your treasured female bits will help to remedy the entirely unpleasant sensation that anyone in possession of a vagina has at some point experienced.

It turns out this DIY method is actually not an effective treatment for that internal burning or itching. In fact, it can actually harm your lady garden. And that's why Dr. Jen Gunter, OBGYN and author of , wrote a (now viral) thread of tweets to end the cycle of fake vajayjay news.

At least twice a month, she tells us, her patients inform her that they've attempted to self "medicate" with garlic. The legend is so pervasive, she says, because it's a long-standing tale that's now being further spread by resources like Our Bodies, Ourselves which "people consider legitimate" and automatically believe.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Why you should not put garlic in your vagina.

A thread.

Garlic contains allicin, in THE LAB it MAY have antifungal (i.e. anti yeast) properties. This is in a lab, not even in mice. Just a dish of cells. Your vagina is not a dish of cells. #vaginaisanogarliczone 1/8 — Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) April 23, 2019

Why is Gunter taking a stand? Besides the fact that she's had to "dig little pieces of garlic out of vaginas at work, which doesn't make people happy," she adds that using garlic in this fashion is "completely unstudied." Sure, it does have a compound with antifungal properties that's been tested to a small extent—but "something that is seen in a petri dish in a lab is different from what's happening in your vagina."

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Lots of vaginal garlic aficionados (I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TWEET THAT IN 2019, BUT HERE WE ARE) recommend inserting a clove. This means they don't understand for allicin to be released the garlic has to be cut or crushed. Sigh. #vaginaisanogarliczone 2/8 — Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) April 23, 2019

Plus, for it to even work in a lab setting, the garlic would need to be crushed to release the compounds, she explains. So she can't stress enough how little putting a whole clove inside yourself will do. Not to mention the fact that introducing anything that's touched soil into your body—no matter how thoroughly it's been washed—can lead to more harm than a yeast infection by damaging the good bacteria women have.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Garlic could have bacteria from the soil. Bacteria from the soil can be pathogenic -- bad for the body. That's why we clean wounds. If you actually happen to have an inflamed yeasty vagina that soil bacteria would be more likely to infect #vaginaisanogarliczone 3/8 — Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) April 23, 2019

She also says that "About 50 to 70 percent of women who think they have a yeast infection actually have something else, so you don’t know what you could be treating."

To the naysayers who claim it's worked for them, Dr. Guntner tries to respond to them directly on Twitter. "There’s a powerful placebo effect," she says. "And these women might not have had a yeast infection (which can go away on its own, regardless) in the first place."

Dr. Guntner explains that she also just hopes to stop the cycle of misinformation. "Part of the problem is women have been mistreated and dismissed by patriarchal medicine, which is why I'm outspoken."

"I want to fill in the knowledge gaps so women can be empowered. I let them know that I'm not discrediting their experience or dismissing their symptoms when I say that garlic doesn't work. I'm just saying that while they might have had symptoms, garlic was not what treated them. If it worked for you, you just got lucky," she says.

While her tweets may feel like an affront to anyone who went the homeopathic err, "root," she says, "I try my best not to blame the woman who feels she was driven to it. Medicine drove her to that. Naturopaths drove her to that. My anger is at the things that made a woman feel that desperate that led her to do that. I want to give them the education so they know topical antifungals—which you can get over-the-counter—are very safe."

And while we're at it. Please refrain from putting yogurt—another common DIY treatment—in your fanny, she asks. Your breakfast shouldn't be near your genital tract.

For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io