Do consultants love episiotomies?

[coolpink101]

Just wondering. All of my friends recently who have been under consultant led care have either had episiotomies or c-sections. None of those under midwife led care have had an episiotomy (like myself thankfully) but had tears.

Do consultants not like tearing? I was under the impression that tears healed better than a cut. The girls i've known who've had the cut all said it healed badly and some needed laser treatment too.

They will have been put under consultant led care due to higher risk/more complicated births therefore intervention is more likely.
If you have midwife led care you are more likely to be a straightforward birth and therefore are less likely to need intervention. Hence the disparity in rates.

Ditto Wonky. Also, just to level your statistics, I had an episiotomy for forceps and it has healed fine. My mum had a tear with my brother, and when the doctor saw her awful messy scar when she was having me he was appalled and offered to redo it and neaten it up! She said yes please and it put an end to the horrid problems she'd had for four years. So the surgical route can sometimes be better than the natural.

I've also heard that a cut is better than a tear, hence consultants prefer to do it rather than let the woman tear up 'naturally'... but only if the tear/cut is inevitable.

like Daisy, I had an episiotomy for a forceps delivery and the obstetrician did a stellar job, everything healed up nice and neatly.

For a forceps delivery, tearing naturally isn't an option. They have to fit those salad spoons in somehow (best not to think too much about that )