Any surgeons about? Why wasn't I wearing knickers?

[ohwerehalfwaythere]

I had laparoscopic surgery for an ovarian cyst this morning. Went into surgery wearing disposable knickers but wasn't when I woke up. It's really bothering me. Can anyone shed any light what would have happened? I'm in England. Thank you

I had an OP to remove an ovary after a couple of huge cysts.

They told me they would put a painkiller suppository in while I was unconscious.

Totally with you, OP. I had one over twenty years ago and felt the same way - just the assumption if would wake up in the same state I'd gone under the anaesthetic! I seem to recall I was bleeding a bit too, and it transpired I'd had something put up my vagina for some reason - and yes, it felt invasive and non-consensual. Yes it was clearly part of the normal routine and procedure for the surgeon/nursing staff but when you've never been in hospital for anything (as was the case for me), it's a bit of a shock to realise just how vulnerable/exposed you can be.

@welshweasel

They will often pop a temporary (in/out) catheter in at the start of the operation and then use a probe up your vagina into your uterus to move it around during the op. Both these are absolutely standard practice.

Exactly this

Also do people realise when they contact PALS this causes hours and hours of extra work for the Consultant and their team. Just ask your Consultant/team if you have a question that needs answering.

I’ve had gynae surgery six times, starting with pants on & finishing with pants off. I didn’t think twice about it, to be honest, as it makes sense to me they’d be in the way. You end up with orange scrub well below the line of where the knickers lie.

Laparoscopies also can involve a manual exam if they are looking for endometriosis, it’s a required step under UK guidelines as certain types of endo are difficult to diagnose without palpating.

I don’t think it’s an unreasonable question op. Of course you would feel uncomfortable waking up without underwear on if you weren’t expecting it.

Explanations have already been given as to why it happened so I hope that’s put your mind at rest.

OP I'm a nurse and worked in theatres it it should have been explained to you before hand.

You're absolutely justified to wonder why you were knickerless afterwards without suggesting anything sinister like some people on here think you are .

I hope you're ok, I think I would feel the same.

I've had many laparoscopic procedures and was always knickerless because I started off that way at their request.

Hope you're ok.

Have a look at your notes OP.
My 14 yo son came back from a tonsil operation with no underpants.
I read the notes- and could see that he had a pain killing suppository at the end of surgery .

OP, can you ask them? Surely they should be able to tell you why they did it?

Some people are being really unnecessarily horrible to the OP. I've never been for surgery and If I woke up with no knickers on and no explanation as to why, I would be a bit confused.

I remember after I had an operation and waking up in icu, another patient shouting “where are my knickers?”. I must admit it initially made me laugh then quickly realising that my own knickers had gone too. I just think it’s so normal for this to happen that the drs don’t think to tell you. For my next operation i made sure I wore my least favourite pair!

I assumed the wearing of disposable pants jeans they will be removed.
I walked down but was wheeled back all tucked up in bed so didn't notice any no pants right away, but like others had a pad between leg (I was a cyst removal and then dead ovaries so assume they came out that way though do have a scar above my public line too)

I suppose I'd find it weird if no pants after say having wisdom teeth out (especially if wearing my own when I went into surgery) but not for anything gynie related.

@ohwerehalfwaythere

I'm sure it's nothing sinister it just wasn't nice to find out unexpectedly

It is worth feeding this back to them, as it should be something they mention pre op. Things like this can sometimes be viewed as 'business as usual' and forget that to the patient it's an unknown situation.

I had appendicitis & my pants disappeared. I guess they just needed to do it for hygiene and I don't expect dignity really during surgery!

@Olivia199

Anaesthetic practitioner here - more than likely it was to clean and drape the area. We will prep skin far lower and higher than necessary to ensure we have a good sterile field. Then we have the drapes stuck down. In ovarian/lower abdominal surgery, pants more often than not get in the way. They also, on occasion, will pop a catheter in. You should have been warned about this really. Although it is very standard practice for us and we don't think twice, it is still very invasive as a patient! Normally I ask my patients to pop their pants off before they go under. Hope you heal up well!

Scrub nurse here. It was almost certainly for this reason.

The waistband of my pants sits on or higher than my laparoscopic surgery scars, I can’t see how they’d have done the procedure with pants on.

You've had some rude and dismissive opinions on this thread but I totally empathise with your query and have been interested to read the responses from medical professionals on the thread so thank you to them for contributing. I guessed that the professionals who do it all the time will be in business as usual mode and thoroughly desensitised to the underwear situation but for most people it is deeply intimate and personal for someone else to remove your underwear. For it to happen without your awareness when unexpected is a fucking creepy feeling. even though I would 100% accept it for the reasons explained above. I understand that for informed consent, there is a balance between sufficient and burdensomely detailed information. But this might be one to include.

Informative thread, if you ignore the dickheads

Goodness - certainly not unreasonable to feel disconcerted at all. I hope the responses from the medics have helped.

I have had a few gynae surgeries and had the same. After one I was expected to bleed vaginally and had a big hospital brick of a pad there. As I recovered one of the (male) nurses yanked it down to check the bleeding and still 20 years later I remember how horrid and violated I felt even though I know it was a medical check and I was used to having the world and his wife peering up there. Don't feel bad for feeling bad.

This is normal. In all of my surgeries, I’ve either not been allowed to even wear disposables or they’ve been cut off during surgery.

When I had my gallbladder out, I was knickerless. Obviously none for my c sections. And then disposables for my three private surgeries but as I say, removed during.

I recently had surgery on my stomach so a bit further up the abdomen. My paper knickers were covered in the small disinfectant /iodine when I woke up. So if the sureger was lower maybe they got covered in that?

But if you are uncomfortable you should ask. You're completely entitled to wonder about it.

If you are pregnant then they might have needed access to scan you if anything went wrong?

I Totally understand where you are coming from, especially if you are pregnant. I remember one junior doctor asking if he could do an internal exam on my when I was pregnant and I totally refused. It was unnecessary and I was just so protective of the baby at that early stage. So I would have also been upset if I had woken up and not known what had happened.

Anyway I hope you are doing ok, and I’m laughing away at the thought of people waking up without their knockers, especially their disposable knockers

@ohwerehalfwaythere Gyn scrub nurse here, the surgical team would have manipulated your uterus using a spackmans cannula or similar. This picture demonstrates how the instrument is inserted through the vagina and then the uterus can moved to allow better access for the surgeon to do what they need to do.

I want to apologise for this not being explained to you. We sometimes forget that things that seem so obvious to us are super alien to our patients.

I remember my elderly uncle being very perplexed by the perfect square of missing hair from his thigh following his hernia repair. He couldn’t understand how it had fallen off so uniformly. He was quite relieved when I explained that it had been shaved for the diathermy pad.

I can’t get the picture to upload, if you google “uterine manipulator” you’ll see what I mean.

Just wanted to say I know how you feel, I had surgery on my sphincter and was surprised to have no underwear when I woke up! It's a horrible feeling when you're not expecting it.

@olympicsrock that was a lovely, clear explanation. There have been some great posts on here from medical staff who have given a proper explanation, which is exactly what the OP was after.

I get so depressed by the bullying contingent who look for any chance to bite people’s heads off. Women in surgery in past decades did routinely have their privacy violated - there’s no pretending otherwise. I had a mature student friend at uni who used to be a theatre nurse and she told some hair-raising stories. The “shut up and sit down” tone of some posts is really unpleasant.

@ohwerehalfwaythere

Don't be unkind *@Firesidefox* it's really not necessary

It's not unkind when someone states an alternative opinion. You sound very very touchy, OP.