Hormonal
Hormonal vaginitis includes atrophic vaginitis usually found in postmenopausal women. Irritation/allergy
Irritant vaginitis can be caused by allergies or reactions to vaginal sprays, douches, spermicides, soaps, detergents, or fabric softeners. It can also be caused by hot tubs, abrasion, tissue, tampons, or topical medications. Foreign body vaginitis (most common foreign bodies are retained tampons or condoms) may cause extremely malodorous vaginal discharges. Treatment consists of removal, for which ring forceps may be useful. Further treatment is generally not necessary. Diagnosis
Diagnosis is typically suspected based on a womens symptoms. Diagnosis is made with microscopy (mostly by vaginal wet mount) and culture of the discharge after a careful history and physical examination have been completed. The color, consistency, acidity, and other characteristics of the discharge may be predictive of the causative agent. Determining the agent is especially important because women may have more than one infection, or have symptoms that overlap those of another infection, which dictates different treatment processes to cure the infection. For example, women often self-diagnose for yeast infections but due to the 89% misdiagnosis rate, self-diagnoses of vaginal infections are highly discouraged.Another type of vaginitis, called desquamative inflammatory vaginitis (DIV) also exists. The cause behind this type is still poorly understood. DIV corresponds to the severe forms of aerobic vaginitis. About 5 to 10% of women are affected by aerobic vaginitis.The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems codes for the several causes of vaginitis are:

Prevention
Prevention of candidiasis, the most common type of vaginitis, includes using loose cotton underwear.
"Further, there are complications which lead to daily discomfort such as:

persistent discomfort
superficial skin infection (from scratching)
complications of the causative condition (such as gonorrhea and candida infection)

Causes
Infection
Vaginitis is often caused by an infection or the disruption of the healthy vaginal flora. The vaginal flora consists of those organisms which generally do not cause symptoms and is dominated mainly by Lactobacillus species. Disruption of the normal flora can cause a vaginal yeast infection. Vaginal yeast infection can affect women of all ages and is very common. The yeast Candida albicans is the most common cause of vaginitis. Specific forms of vaginal inflammation include the following types:
Infectious vaginitis accounts for 90% of all cases in reproductive age women:

Candidiasis: vaginitis caused by proliferation of Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida krusei
Bacterial vaginosis: vaginitis caused by increased growth of Gardnerella (a bacterium). Aerobic vaginitisOther less common infections are caused by gonorrhea, chlamydia, Mycoplasma, herpes, Campylobacter, improper hygiene, and some parasites, notably Trichomonas vaginalis. Rare cases of amebic vaginitis have been reported, primarily in tropical, developing countries. Women who have diabetes develop infectious vaginitis more often than women who do not.Further, either a change in pH balance or introduction of foreign bacteria in the vagina can lead to infectious vaginitis. Physical factors that have been claimed to contribute to the development of infections include the following: constantly wet vulva due to tight clothing, chemicals coming in contact with the vagina via scented tampons, antibiotics, birth control pills, or a diet favoring refined sugar and yeast.