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When women are going through their menstrual cycle they will often see different colors of blood. The blood can range in color from pink, orange, and light red to your typical blood red and even darker to different shades of brown. The color of menstrual blood can signify different issues in the body. Orange and pink can both signify bacterial vaginosis as well as other infections. Pink blood can also be a sign of low estrogen caused by certain birth controls which makes your period lighter resulting in that pink color. Pink and orange can at times also be normal and it’s just normal healthy blood mixing with discharge or other cervical fluids creating those lighter shades.
The most common colors of blood that are seen during the menstrual cycle are red and brown. Seeing red means there is healthy fast flowing blood. Seeing brown means there is older blood that has oxidized due to oxygen exposure and is not as fast flowing. Brown blood is more common at the beginning and the end stages of the menstrual cycle while red blood is normal to be seen around all stages. Although brown and red blood are common and completely normal there can still be issues present with the menstrual cycle when experiencing this kind of blood.
A common issue that is seen even with normal looking menstrual blood is PCOS which is polycystic ovarian syndrome. Paying attention to the color of menstrual blood is important but with conditions like this it is also important to focus on other symptoms during the menstrual cycle. A woman with PCOS can have very normal looking period blood but will often suffer from intense cramping, prolonged periods beyond the normal 7 days, and may bleed very heavily. A woman with PCOS also may not have very regular periods meaning that they may not get one every month, some may only get one a couple times a year.
Experiencing bleeding close to or outside the menstrual cycle is also a possibility. The same kind of knowledge applies to blood outside of the menstrual cycle because it comes from the same location. Pink blood can be seen outside of the cycle if one were to be sexually active and have tears in the vagina causing slight bleeding. That little bit of blood mixes with cervical fluids which makes the blood appear pink.
Orange and bright red can also be seen in spotting when off of the menstrual cycle, this is called implantation spotting. If one experiences spotting and doesn’t get a period 10-14 days after they should take a pregnancy test because the spotting with lack of menstruation can be a sign of pregnancy. Also when it comes to spotting again with the pink blood, orange and lighter shades of red can be made with normal blood just being mixed with other cervical fluids. When there is not as much blood being mixed with other cervical fluids it can appear lighter and in different shades.
References:
Hawkins, S., Matzuk, M. (2008) Menstrual Cycle: Basic Biology, National Library of Medicine
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2913133
Eske, J. (2023) What does the color of period blood mean? MdicalNewsToday
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324848
Gulati, S., Dr. Priyanka S. (2021) Distinguishing Blood as Normal or Menstrual Through Instrumental Analysis
Catlett, T. (2024) What Can Different Period Blood Colors Mean?, heathline
https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/period-blood#orange
Howell, K. (2023) What Are Periods Like When You Have PCOS?, nurture GYNAECOLOGY
I really liked Olivia’s project and I found that it was a great project idea. I think it was super interesting how she decided to make cookies to represent different colors of menstrual blood. Something I learned about her project is the other colors of blood you can have. I didn’t know that you could have pink and orange blood, but this does make sense when having an infection. I think it was also interesting to learn about PCOS as well as implantation bleeding. Something that I thought was super interesting was learning that brown blood is oxidized which makes it not fast flowing. Overall, I think this project was a great project idea and it helped me understand more about menstrual cycles.