Spotting: everything you need to know about these little bleeds

What is spotting?

We call “spotting” the small bleedings coming from the uterus and occurring outside the periods. The English term “spotting” also means “stain”. This bleeding is much less abundant than menstruation, most often painless and generally darker in color than menstruation. This is particularly due to the fact that this blood loss reaches the underwear sometimes a few hours or days after being emitted by the genital tract. Exposed to the vaginal cavity, the blood oxidizes and may thus turn slightly brown.

Spotting is a fairly common phenomenon in a woman's life, and generally not serious. But it can sometimes be a sign of an underlying pathology.

Blood loss in the middle of the cycle: the different possible causes

There are different factors that can explain the occurrence of spotting-type bleeding, such as:

As seen here, spotting generally occurs from hormonal changes or imbalances, likely to weaken the uterine lining (endometrium).

Note that taking progestogen alone tends, over time, to cause small losses of blood, also called metrorrhagia or spotting, due to the fragility of the uterine lining, which has become very thin under the action of this type of contraceptive.

Spotting during pregnancy

Small spotting-type blood loss can occur in pregnant women, especially in early pregnancy, due to a more fragile cervix. A vaginal examination, sexual intercourse or even simply the implantation of the egg in the uterine cavity can lead to spotting, small brown or pink discharge. That said, if only as a precaution and to be reassured, any blood loss during pregnancy should lead to consulting your obstetrician-gynecologist or midwife. Because bleeding during pregnancy can be harmless as well as a sign of a retroplacental hematoma, the beginning of a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy.

Spotting: when to consult?

Although most of the time benign, a spotting can be the symptom of a pathology that has gone unnoticed until now, such as the presence of a uterine fibroid, an endometrial polyp, precancerous lesions at the level cervix or endometrium, a sexually transmitted infection (endometritis by chlamydia or gonococcus in particular) or other.

If spotting during pregnancy should lead to consultation as quickly as possible, there is less urgency when spotting occurs outside of pregnancy. But small spotting-type blood loss that continues over time, is repeated with each cycle or after 3 to 6 months of trying a new contraceptive should lead to consultation. And the presence of bleeding, even of the spotting type, must lead to consultation quickly after menopause, because these cannot then be explained by hormonal variations.

Spotting-type blood loss: what treatment?

The treatment to put in place in the presence of small blood losses or spotting depends on the cause of these. It can result in a change of contraceptive if the current contraception no longer seems suitable, by surgery in the event of uterine fibroids or endometrial polyps, by medication against the sexually transmitted infection in question, by rest in the event of stress or jet-lag, etc.