If you want a peek into your general health, it’s good practice to keep an eye on your pee. “Urine should appear clear with varying degrees of yellow,” says Sherry Ross, M.D., OB/GYN and women’s health expert at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. But it’s not just about color. Sometimes, you’ll see particles or sediments in your urine that appear white, Dr. Ross says. Though often benign, white tissue or particles in your urine can be a sign of kidney stones, urinary tract infections, or even sexually transmitted diseases.

To understand why your pee looks white, it helps to know what urine really is. “Urine is one of the body’s waste products, and urinating is one of the ways the body gets rid of excess amounts of what it doesn’t need. Typically, this means urine is made up of water, urea, creatinine, and minerals like sodium, potassium, calcium, and more,” says Mike Bohl, M.D., a New York City-based physician and director of medical content and education for direct-to-patient healthcare company Ro.

However, if you have a health condition, urine can have other components in it—like protein, sugar or blood cells, explains Dr. Bohl. “These are often microscopic and may only be detected on a test, like a urinalysis,” he says. “However, sometimes the extra material is large enough to see, and urine can look cloudy, white, or like it has particles in it. If this is the case, a few things may be going on.”

UTIs Can Cause Cloudy Urine

A common reason urine can look white or cloudy is a urinary tract infection (UTI). “White blood cells are the body’s way of fighting off an infection, so if you have a urinary tract infection, those white blood cells can end up in the urine and cause it to look a different color,” says Dr. Bohl.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), other symptoms of a UTI may include:

  • Pain or burning while urinating

  • Frequent urination

  • Feeling the need to urinate despite having an empty bladder

  • Bloody urine

  • Pressure or cramping in the groin or lower abdomen

Kidney Stones Can Lead to White Tissue in Urine

Another common reason you might see white matter in your urine is that you have kidney stones—collections of chemicals that bind together into small, hard deposits in the kidneys and then travel through the urine.

“If kidney stones are big enough to block parts of the urinary tract—like the ureters, which connect the kidneys to the bladder—they can be extremely painful,” says Dr. Bohl. “In some cases, kidney stones are smaller and can pass more easily in the urine. They may look like small, white-yellow crystals when a person goes to the bathroom.”

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Per the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, other symptoms of kidney stones include:

  • An urgent need to urinate

  • Intense and/or fluctuating pain in the abdomen, lower back, or side

  • Pain radiating to the groin and lower abdomen

  • Burning or pain during urination

  • Bloody, cloudy, or smelly urine

  • Inability to urinate more than a small amount at a time

  • Nausea and vomiting

  • Fever and chills

Cloudy Urine May Indicate Renal Papillary Necrosis

The renal papillae are areas where the openings of the collecting ducts enter the kidney and where urine flows into the ureters. In people with the kidney disorder renal papillary necrosis, all or part of the renal papillae die, and white tissue fragments might end up in their urine, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Other symptoms of renal papillary necrosis progresses may include:

  • Dysuria (painful urination)

  • Fever and chills

  • Hematuria (blood in the urine)

  • Nocturia (frequent urination at night)

  • Pyuria (unusually high amount of white blood cells in urine)

  • Severe pain on either side of the back

  • Urinary tract infections

White Particles May Mean Sexually Transmitted Infections

Several sexually transmitted infections (STIs) can cause genital discharge in both men and women. When this leaks into your pee, it creates the appearance of white particles. For instance, “When the urethra—the tube that connects the bladder to the outside world—is infected, it’s known as urethritis,” says Dr. Bohl. According to Dr. Bohl, urethritis is caused by a sexually transmitted infection such as:

  • Gonorrhoea

  • Chlamydia

  • Trichomoniasis

Often, men don’t experience any additional symptoms of an STI. Women may notice vaginal itching and pelvic pain, according to Dr. Bohl.

Causes of Cloudy Pee That Affect Only Women

In the same way that discharge from an STI can cloud the urine, so can vaginal discharge brought on by other conditions, says Dr. Ross. These include pregnancy, ovulation, bacterial vaginosis, and yeast infections, according to Dr. Ross.

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, white particles in your urine are typically due to leukorrhea, which is simply normal vaginal discharge that’s usually thin and milky. Vaginal discharge during pregnancy increases. If it leaks out when you pee it might create the appearance of white spots, but it’s nothing to worry about, according to Dr. Ross. However, you should get in touch with your OB/GYN if you notice your discharge is pink or darker during pregnancy.

Ovulation

It’s common to have some cervical mucus discharge throughout your menstrual cycle that changes in consistency and quantity depending on the time of the month. Leading up to ovulation, mucus discharge might be more creamy in appearance, says Cleveland Clinic. This can come out when you pee and look like white tissue. Again, this is perfectly normal and no cause for concern. But if your discharge smells bad, is green in color, or contains blood, contact your doc.

Bacterial Vaginosis

This inflammation of the vagina occurs when there’s an imbalance of its naturally occurring bacteria, and it often doesn’t cause any symptoms. But some women might notice a change in the appearance of their vaginal discharge. It may be gray or white, and foamy or watery, according to the Office on Women’s Health. If this discharge comes out when you pee, you might notice white spots in your urine. Other possible symptoms of bacterial vaginosis include:

  • Burning when urinating

  • Fishy odor

  • Itching

Bacterial vaginosis can be treated with oral antibiotic meds or topical antibiotic gel or cream applied inside the vagina.

Vaginal Yeast Infection

A vaginal yeast infection, caused by an overgrowth of the fungus Candida, often results in a thick, odorless discharge that resembles cottage cheese, according to the Office on Women’s Health. If it comes out in your urine, it looks like white particles. Additional symptoms of a yeast infection include:

  • Burning during urination or sex

  • Itching in and around the vagina

  • Pain during sex

  • Redness and swelling of the vagina and vulva

  • Soreness

A vaginal yeast infection can be treated with an antifungal cream, suppository, or ointment, either prescribed by your doctor or over-the-counter. You’ll want to see your healthcare provider so they can rule out another type of infection before starting treatment for a vagina yeast infection.

Causes of Cloudy Pee That Only Affect Men

Prostatitis

One type of infection that only men get that can cause white material in the urine is prostatitis. “Prostatitis is inflammation of the prostate, the gland that sits just below the bladder and surrounds the urethra,” explains Dr. Bohl.

There are four kinds of prostatitis:

  • Acute bacterial prostatitis

  • Asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis

  • Chronic bacterial prostatitis

  • Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS)

“Acute bacterial prostatitis and chronic bacterial prostatitis are infections caused by a bacterial infection, and they differ based on how long the infection has been around,” Dr. Bohl says. “Both of these infections can cause urine to be whitish because of white blood cells that make their way into the urine.” According to Dr. Bohl, the symptoms of both include:

  • Frequent urination

  • Pain in the groin

  • Trouble starting or maintaining a urine stream

  • Urinary urgency

Bacterial prostatitis can be treated with antibiotics, but—in severe cases or if left untreated—prostatitis can lead to an abscess in the prostate or bacterial infection in the blood, says Dr. Bohl.

The causes of CPPS and asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis are not well understood, says Dr. Bohl. CPPS is defined as pain located in the pelvic area that lasts six months or longer and is severe enough to limit functioning.

Asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis—as its name implies—doesn’t have symptoms, cause complications, or require treatment. A clinician may diagnose asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis when testing for other urinary tract or reproductive tract disorders, says the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Retrograde Ejaculation

This phenomenon is another reason for white tissue in urine that only affects men. “Retrograde ejaculation is when semen goes backward into the bladder instead of forward out of the penis when a male ejaculates,” Dr. Bohl says. “Normally, during orgasm, the muscles at the base of the bladder tighten up to prevent this from happening, and semen follows the path of least resistance and travels through the urethra and out of the body. However, if the muscles at the base of the bladder are weakened or not functioning properly, semen can go back into the bladder.”

The semen then stays there and mixes with the urine, leaving the body during the next bathroom trip. This can make urine look like it has semen or white, stringy material in it.

A man may suspect they have retrograde ejaculation if little to no semen comes out when they orgasm and their urine is cloudy when they go to the bathroom after sex or masturbation, Dr. Bohl adds.

Retrograde ejaculation is most commonly caused by:

  • Prostate surgery

  • Nerve damage (such as from poorly controlled diabetes)

  • Medication side effects

Because sperm doesn’t exit the body during sex, retrograde ejaculation may also be a cause of male infertility, Dr. Bohl adds.

When to Contact a Doctor

If you have white tissue in your urine without an obvious explanation, you’ll want to give your doctor a call. “Seeing a healthcare professional to test a urine sample is the best first step to determine the underlying cause and most effective treatment,” says Dr. Ross.

If you think you’ve been exposed to an STI or have another type of infection, contact your doctor as soon as possible so you can get tested, and if needed, treated.

This article was originally published September 7, 2010 and most recently updated November 17, 2022.
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Claire Gillespie, Health Writer:  
Andrea Eisenberg, M.D., Obstetrician-Gynecologist; Assistant Clinical Professor: