Vaginitis is a disease in which bacteria or fungi penetrate the vagina and cause inflammation. It is so common like they catch a cold every now and then. Vaginal bacteria can spread to the inside and cause inflammation in the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and peritoneum, which can lead to serious conditions that require surgery. However, since the cause is not clear and the treatment method is to take antibiotics, many women complain of discomfort. Intake of lactic acid bacteria, which creates a vaginal environment, is recommended, but the effect varies greatly depending on the individual, so a more direct and clear prevention method is needed. To respond to these complains of the women, Meculic, a startup of Chung-Ang University, introduced To reach u. To reach u directly applies ingredients for lactobacillus and vaginal health to grow lactobacillus that prevent vaginitis and prevent harmful groups. 

Preventing vaginitis with lactobacillus

To reach u prevents harmful bacteria from growing

Even if women suffer from vaginitis, there is no right way to solve or prevent it. Vaginitis can occur even if the physical condition does not improve, but even if symptoms of vaginitis appear, there is no major solution other than going to the hospital and prescribing antibiotics, and it is difficult to prevent it. 

Meculic CEO Kyungmin Song says “Antibiotics kill not only harmful bacteria that cause vaginitis and urinary tract infection, but also lactobacillus, so the recurrence rate is very high, close to 40%. Because of this, I thought it was very important to do some kind of prevention. So, while looking for a method, I found out that this is closely related to lactobacillus.” 

In fact, supplementation of vaginal lactobacilli can maintain the acidity of the vagina, so it prevents the proliferation of harmful bacteria and improves the vaginal environment. For this reason, many women’s lactobacillus products are coming out. However, Meculic developed To reach u Lactobacillus Ture Care Y Gell, which can create an environment for lactobacillus growth in women’s Y zone instead of eating.

‘To reach u’ is used by applying it to the Y-zone after taking a shower, and contains ingredients necessary for the female vagina and Y-zone in the gel. One of them, ‘lactobacillus crispatus’, is a lactic acid bacterium most commonly found in women who are not prone to vaginitis, and is also used as a biomarker to check the quality of a healthy vagina. Song says “Some people have lactobacilli in their vagina, while others have none. Without it, it is very easy to get related diseases. But there weren’t many products available to help with that.” Existing products had a disadvantage that it was difficult to settle in the Y zone due to the long process of decomposition as most of them were consumed. For this reason, To reach u was developed as an application method. As a result, the effect was confirmed even for women who do not have lactic acid bacteria in the vagina, and they succeeded in securing strengthening of the Y-zone immunity.

Ingredients good for women’s vagina together with lactobacillus in one place

Winning 2022 Femtech Challenge for its safety

To reach u applies lactobacillus crispatus directly, while maintaining the pH balance of the Y zone through lactic acid. It uses the most evolved form of 4th generation postbiotics and contains all of the lactic acid bacteria metabolites and new biotics produced by lactic acid bacteria eating lactic acid bacteria food. Lactic acid is a key metabolite of lactobacillus, which inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria and is also an essential component for maintaining weak acidity in the Y zone. To reach u is more effective by adding centella asiatica extract, a key ingredient of soothing cream, and hyaluronic acid, which has excellent moisturizing effect.

As this method chose direct application instead of ingestion, great attention was paid to body safety. In the non-stimulation test, it was judged to be 0.00 non-irritating, so it has no stimulation to the human body, and in the cytotoxicity test, it was judged safe as it did not show toxicity to cells in the Y zone. In particular, lactic acid has strong acidity, but it was developed so that it can be used in EWG grade 1 situations by well controlling it and keeping the safe content. Due to these effects, it is designed to be safely expressed by maximizing the effect of ingredients as well as concentration of ingredients, and the smell is naturally plum scented and is not sticky, so you can maintain a fresh and moist feeling after application. Careful attention was also paid to product packaging using perfect airless containers that can protect lactobacillus, and it is made so that no residue is left behind. 

The 2022 Femtech Challenge was hosted by Seoul and the Seoul Foundation of Women & Family, and Meculic won the grand prize. The company also received a prize from the Seoul Center for Creative Economy & Innovation in November the same year at the Starbucks Startup Challenge.