Episiotomy wound left open to heal naturally

[Pooja12]

Hi

I delivered my daughter 14 weeks back with forcep delivery. Doctor did episiotomy. It got infected badly within 2 days . My doctor removed all the stiches and told me that it will heal naturally. Its been 14 weeks now and i can still see gap at perinium. I’m afraid if it will be like that forever. I’m looking g for moral support because its very depressing. Have any one got episiotomy that healed naturally properly. How long did that take to heal.

5 months.

I do not recommend it. Can you ask for a referral?

Mine was the same. Badly infected, all stitches removed. I think it took a couple of months to heal, from the inside out, they called it. They did use silver nitrate at some point afterwards to sort out some of the scarring. Honestly, it's all a bit of a blur, but it did heal in the end. I know of someone else in the same situation and hers healed eventually as well.

Yes , I asked them to look for other options but they told me that it can’t be restiched and has to be left open to heal naturally.

How long did it take for you to heal

I saw this and it reminded me of my woes. 7 months pp and had first degree tear that I was assured would heal without stitches. Wrong! Although internally I'm pretty much normal, my perenium definitely feels shorter as the skin didn't knit itself back together as two midwives who looked at it said. As a result I'm very self conscious of it now. Not sure whether to go back and have this cut n stiched.

I feel angry that I was fobbed off in such a way, despite pointing out on pp midwife visits that I thought there might be an issue. I actually think my episiotomy was much better than my supposed little 1st degree tear.

I think as it is a second degree tear I would get it looked at. At least in my case it is just skin and not internal tissue. I suppose I can live with it, but I will always suggest to anyone having babies now to have the stitches.

Similar story... infected and stitches broke down. Left to heal ‘open’. I was told not to have any repair until I had finished having children, but honestly three DC later, I don’t know what could be done... it looks and feels horrendous.

Oh @Pooja12 I feel your pain. Forceps delivery too with my DS who is now 27months. My episiotomy tore but I was sadly dismissed as nothing being wrong. In the end by the time I saw the consultant she said it would have to heal by secondary intention as otherwise there's further risk of internal infection.

I ended up having a Fenton's procedure when DS was 7 months as I had lots of tight and thick scar tissue in my perineum. If you are not happy push for a second opinion until you are happy.

I had the exact same thing. It totally broke me. I was backwards and forwards to the doctors for months being told each time that it takes time. While that is true, if you feel something isn’t right keep going back. I was referred back to the gynae twice and had silver nitrate. It does get better after what feels like a life time. I think it was about 6-7 months for things to feel ok and a year to feel sort of back to normal.

My stiches fell out of my 2nd degree tear and I was left to "mesh together" . I healed really well no issues at all. I had a lot of salt baths (my mum swears by it) and gave it lots of air. But I think you can just be lucky / unlucky with healing. Really sorry for others who suffered but I just wanted to give a reassurance that it can be totally fine.

I also had a third degree tear that healed faster (but no issues with stitches on that occasion). If anything third degree was better in that I went to surgery for stitches, got pain relief, lactulose, better care etc.

Ask to be seen by the Tissue viability nurse specialist for your area. They should be available in the community (ask at your g.p. surgery) and also in the hospital.
The are known as TVN's and are the experts in wound care

I had to have mine redone via a Fenton's procedure a year later.

I had an episiotomy that was stitched and it still took a long time to heal... 18 months pp finally no pain .... sorry no good news it was hell 😂

I had my baby in Nov 2020, forcep delivery with episiotomy. My stitches broke down after a few days which left a gapping hole (i did not have an infection), i was told this would heal naturally. Also some stitches were removed by the doc to prevent any infection. I was in a lot of pain, thought i was never going to be ok. I couldn't walk for more than 10mins or turn sidew at night, i couldn't sit on hard surfaces, I had to put a thin mattress on my sofa. Week 6, I started to feel better, I could walk and get on with daily activities without pain, I was still taking pain relief (paracetamol and ibuprofen). By week 10 I was completly pain free and stopped taking pain relief. I am now 15 weeks pp and I don't feel any pain from the wound, the scar has gone and there is no gapping. We dtd week 13 pp and it was ok, i still get pain but its not from where the wound is, that feels fine. I think it's the tissues that need stretching. We have tried 5 times and I'm hoping it will get better with time.

All in all took 6 months to completely heal

I had a second degree tear

Healing process was very uncomfortable with lots of salt baths which I highly recommend

10 yrs on it's healed so nicely, can't really see the year. But obviously didn't take that long! Just down the line now it's very neat

X

Totally insulting to women, yet again. 18 months to heal??!

Get back to the docs, op. Absolutely disgraceful