Yellow Discharge No Odor, Smell, or Itching: 11 Reasons To Worry

Question: What causes yellow discharge no odor? Is it normal or due to a vaginal infection?

Whether you are expecting your period or just after the end of menstruation, yellow discharge with or without odor may cause you to worry something is wrong.

First of all, your vaginal discharge is a natural protective way you avoid infections. Secondly, if you are having a discharge that’s not whitish, it doesn’t necessarily always mean something is wrong. In fact, sometimes you can have a brown, yellow or milky discharge with no serious health problem.

The truth is, from time to time during your menstrual cycle, your discharge may change its typical whitish color to something else. If you are concerned, you are not alone. Doctors usually consider discharge “normal” if it is clear to white, not clumpy, and without a strong or foul smell.

Here is an email I received from one of my readers

Hi Dr. Dunn

I feel like I have a vaginal infection, but I’m not sure if these are the signs. For two weeks now, I have been experiencing a yellow discharge with itching and a foul smell, especially in the evening.

I also feel pain in my lower abdomen and discomfort while urinating. Are these signs that I have infections and what should I do?

If you have yellow discharge without smell and no itching or pain, it is often not an emergency. However, any new or persistent change, or yellow discharge with itching, pain, burning, or a bad odor, should be checked by your doctor.

Chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, bacterial vaginosis, and severe yeast infection may cause you to have a yellowish discharge.

This article explains why you have yellow discharge no odor, when its abnormal and when you must talk to your doctor about your symptoms. It is for education only and does not replace seeing your own doctor for an exam and tests.

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Is yellow discharge no smell normal?

Vaginal discharge is a normal part of every woman’s life, and it works to fight against infections and also keep your vaginal area clean naturally.

During different times in your menstrual cycle, it’s not abnormal that you may see a thick, watery or creamy vaginal discharge.

Your hormones, especially estrogen and progesterone, affect the way your vaginal discharge looks like and feel like.

Glands in your cervix produce mucus that moves into your vaginal area removing dead cells and debris. Normally, vaginal discharge is whitish without any strong smell.

However, you can experience a light yellow discharge when your discharge is exposed to air. This occurs because of oxidation, and you don’t have to panic if your discharge is pale yellow without odor and you feel well.

If you are experiencing a yellow discharge before period no odor, it could be a sign of pregnancy too, especially if you also notice other early pregnancy signs. Implantation bleeding causes light spotting that may change your discharge to yellow or brown, but most women notice more clear or milky discharge in early pregnancy rather than bright yellow discharge. To be certain you are pregnant, it’s important you take a pregnancy test.

Though, breast swelling and pain, body weakness, mood swings, waist pain, light abdominal pain and a missed period are signs you could be pregnant.

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Yellow discharge no odor: When to worry?

Remember that a mild yellowish discharge with no odor and no other symptoms can sometimes mean nothing is wrong.

Nevertheless, you should see your doctor or go to a clinic if you are experiencing:

• Persistent lower abdominal or pelvic pain

• Severe vaginal pain

• Heavy menstrual period or bleeding between periods

• Painful urination or burning when you pee

• Occasional greenish or gray discharge

• Lower back pain for weeks now

• Symptoms that suggest you are pregnant (missed period, breast changes, nausea)

• Fever or feeling generally unwell

• Pain during sexual intercourse

• A new sexual partner plus any change in your discharge

• Yellow discharge that lasts more than about one to two weeks or keeps coming back

These symptoms may suggest pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), sexually transmitted infections, or other conditions that need urgent treatment to prevent damage to your uterus and fallopian tubes.

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What causes yellow discharge with odor?

While it’s possible your yellow discharge may not mean an infection, if you have yellow discharge with itching, smell, lower abdominal pain, and fever, it could be due to something more serious. Here are possible causes of yellow discharge with odor.

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1. Chlamydia infection

Chlamydia is a common infection women catch after unprotected sexual intercourse. So, if you notice a yellow-colored discharge with itching or burning when you urinate, it’s possible it could be chlamydia (https://www.cdc.gov/chlamydia/about/index.html).

If you do not use condoms or totally abstain from sexual intercourse, you can get chlamydia. Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections worldwide, especially in younger women (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/chlamydia).

Commonly, a lot of women will have chlamydia without knowing, and this is because symptoms may be absent for a long time. Even when there are no symptoms, chlamydia can still damage your reproductive system.

However, if you become symptomatic, chlamydia symptoms begin to show up after about three weeks of exposure to the bacteria. Apart from yellow discharge with itching and odor, other symptoms are:

• Difficulty in conceiving (after a long time of infection)

• Pain in the lower abdomen

• Vaginal spotting between periods

• Painful sexual intercourse

• Fever

• Frequent urge to pee

• Smelly vaginal discharge

If you experience these symptoms with a yellowish discharge, it’s time to see your doctor or sexual health clinic.

You should also know that chlamydia can cause problems with a woman’s fertility if not quickly treated. It can spread up to your cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes resulting in widespread inflammation and pain, called pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).

If chlamydia affects the fallopian tube, it may cause irreversible damage and scarring resulting in future ectopic pregnancy or infertility.

Treatment of chlamydia is usually simple with antibiotics, but you and your sexual partner(s) must be treated and then re-tested to make sure the infection is gone (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4023-chlamydia). Your doctor will request samples of your vaginal discharge or urine to be sure of the organism causing the infection. If you take your medications as prescribed and avoid sex until you and your partner are cleared, you will feel better and reduce the risk of long-term complications.

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2. Gonorrhea infection

Sexually active women that are between the ages of 15 and 25 years are prone to catch sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Both infections can make you have a yellow discharge with itching, and if not quickly treated may cause an unpleasant smell down there with possible complications listed here.

Apart from a yellow discharge, you may also experience fever, low abdomen pain, back pain, pain during sexual intercourse, burning sensation while urinating, and body weakness (https://www.cdc.gov/gonorrhea/about/index.html).

The truth is, just like chlamydia, a lot of women will have gonorrhea without any symptoms at all. If your discharge smells bad, changes in amount or color, or you have pain when you pee, see your doctor for evaluation and STI testing. Untreated gonorrhea can also lead to PID, infertility, and problems in pregnancy (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/gonorrhoea-%28neisseria-gonorrhoeae-infection%29).

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Yellow discharge with itching: Could it be a yeast infection?

It’s normal that young girls experience yellow discharge without itching. If you do, and you have no smell too, its nothing serious.

However, if you have a yellow discharge with itching, it could be due to chlamydia, trichomoniasis, forgotten tampon, bacterial vaginosis, or a severe yeast infection (vaginitis) (https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/vaginitis).

Women may experience mild, moderate or severe symptoms of a yeast infection. Common symptoms if you have yeast is vaginal itching for days with soreness, pain while having intercourse, swelling of the vulva and redness. Yeast discharge is usually thick, white and clumpy like cottage cheese and often has little or no odor, but scratching, spotting or mixing with old blood can sometimes make the discharge look a bit yellowish.

In severe infection, you may have mild spotting that causes a yellowish vaginal discharge. It’s best to see your doctor for further evaluation and a simple swab test before buying over-the-counter treatments, especially if this is your first time or you are not sure it is yeast.