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Everyone is familiar with Vicks VapoRub.

It's a smell linked to early memories of being ill, and having it rubbed on your chest and throat while you wheezed, fretted and coughed up what felt like half a lung.

You only need to get the slightest whiff of its well-known eucalyptus and camphor scent to be transported back to being a snotty, ill child .

Now, in 2017, the medicine cabinet staple is getting the reinvention no one asked for.

Simply put, women are applying it to their vaginas.

[We'll give you a moment to wince, cross your legs and recover yourself.]

(Image: Cultura RF)

Given 2017 will probably go down as the year of the bizarre/medically inadvisable vaginal trend, this news about Vicks is perhaps inevitable.

But that doesn't make it any less worrying .

Women are apparently turning to the decongestant to soothe itches, boost their sex lives and keep everything smelling minty-fresh.

Several health advice forums show women are using it as some sort of cure-all for all vaginal ills.

One woman wrote: "My vagina itches. Just the outside on the labia. They become swollen as well. When I scratch they bleed.

(Image: Getty)

"I use Vicks to sooth the itch and bring down the swelling. It really helps me. Am I harming myself by using vicks?"

To which another Vicks fan says: "Vicks was my saviour.....it won't hurt you a bit. It's the only thing that ever worked for me...like at all."

Apparently the tingling sensation it offers is believed to enhance their sex lives too.

Worryingly, these women are far from being alone.

As with many other vagina trends before it, doctors are despairing.

(Image: Getty Images)

Dr Vanessa Mackay, a gynaecologist and spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists told The Sun Online:

"Using Vicks VapoRub on the vagina would not only be uncomfortable but also has the potential to cause damage and disrupt the natural flora of the vagina."

So, for the last time (until next time): Vicks won't clear up thrush. It won't boost your sex life. And it can't clean your lady bits because - guess what - your vagina already has this covered.