Irritation can cause a pink, red, or brown discharge if the cervix or vaginal canal has bled slightly. Having sexual intercourse or placing an object inside the vagina can sometimes cause this to occur. The cervix can become irritated due to infection, exposure to chemicals, or trauma.

Spotting between periods It may look like light bleeding or brown discharge. Spotting is the most common side effect of birth control pills. It happens because the body is adjusting to changing levels of hormones, and the uterus is adjusting to having a thinner lining.

In many cases, brown discharge is old blood that’s taking extra time to leave the uterus. This is especially true if you see it at the beginning or end of your menstrual period. Brown discharge at other points in your cycle may still be normal — but be sure to take note of any other symptoms you experience.

Totally normal, and no reason to worry. Brown discharge during your period: again, this is usually very normal. Sometimes your uterus has more tissue to clear out than other months, and it can often look brown instead of red. Other times, you might just have a bit of dark brown discharge instead of a period.

The brown discharge before your upcoming period may just be blood leftover from your last period. Blood that’s stayed in your uterus for a while turns a brownish color. It’s common for it to come out at the very end of your period.

Pregnancy. Brown blood or spotting can sometimes also be an early sign of pregnancy that doctors refer to as implantation bleeding. Brown discharge or spotting during pregnancy can indicate a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy, which is when the fertilized egg implants in a fallopian tube instead of the uterus.

Lochia. Ghusl is necessary at the end of the period of bleeding which follows childbirth (nifas). [Lochia is one of the causes which makes ghusl obligatory. Lochia (nifas) linguistically means childbirth, whether there is blood with it or not.