Episiotomy - tell me about your experience

[Viletta]

Hi there, I had to have an episiotomy due to obs/gyn thinking I would have torn badly otherwise. I'm on week 2, it's healing but some stitches came apart, quite painful but no infection luckily. How long did it take you to heal properly? When were you able to have intercourse? Was it painful? Do you have a scar? Thank you for advice!

Mine was fully healed by 6 weeks and I have no scar. (Two weeks in, I couldn't imagine it ever healing or that I'd ever want sex again 😱) Give it time.

Mine also ruptured which was very painful at the time, but 2-3 weeks later it was absolutely fine. I'm 3 months in, all fully healed, no visible scar and no internal discomfort. The scar tissue however is very tight so this causes me a few issues, particularly after walking - I've been told massaging it will really help, but in all honesty I've not done this yet.

Mine ruptured and was on IV antibiotics for 3 days. I had a number of infections after but luckily cleared with oral antibiotics. Took 12 weeks to heal, only 2-3 of them were painful. I never looked at it but had some shocked midwives. It healed fine, no issues with intercourse or incontinence but my pelvic floor is weaker than before, not so weak I notice it day to day though

My stitches broke down. It was horrendous. So painful. Took about 8 weeks for the pain to subside & about 12/13 weeks to feel kinda normal again. The recovery from it is so hard! I’m 17w pp now. I’ve had sex twice. It was uncomfortable & a bit sore - not as bad as I thought it would be though. The 2nd time was slightly better then the first. Yet to try it again!
I do have a scar. I think it’s noticeable but my hubby keeps telling me it doesn’t look any different down there. The scar internal gets a little achey from time to time, but I guess 17w isn’t long either.

Mine was infected and sitting was sore for 2 or 3 weeks (this was 9 years ago). Had sex at 6 weeks, it stung a little but not enough to put me off.. It is all a bit of a car crash down there, and I have mild rectocele, but everything works!

Mine healed very quickly but it used to get itchy at night for a year or two, not all the time just randomly. I used to pop a bit of sudocrem on to stop the itch.

I've had 2 and they both healed by 4 weeks pp. I didn't have any issues at all.

Mine was pretty sore for the first few weeks and the postnatal midwife was visibly shocked by the size of it.

I have quite a substantial scar and very little perineum, however it healed ok and sex wasnt a problem when we eventually got round to it.

With ds2 I just tore a bit (he came very quickly), but still needed stitches. I was amazed how quickly I healed the second time in comparison to the epi.

Thank you all for replying. Some of my stitches disintegrated early so on week 2 I'm in more pain than week 1. I read episiotomy heals worse than tearing and wondering if I would have torn as badly as they predicted.. can't wait for it to heal and anxious about our sex life after. I tend to have keloid scars so wondering how this one would look like.

Mine came open after about 4 days. I would say it was looking miles better 6-8 weeks later and we did the deed at about 10 weeks postpartum. I have a scar but it’s actually not that noticeable and I don’t have any internal discomfort from it (I had a mediolateral episiotomy, not sure if that makes any difference!).

Hang in there, it will heal!! I washed twice a day with water and just sat air drying it after. Once it wasn’t such a gaping wound I also used salt water on a cotton pad just to help keep clean.

Im nearly 10 weeks PP and whilst I can’t see my scar just looking at it (and it healed very quickly) it feels tender to touch/press on it and I can feel the scar tissue underneath.
I can’t imagine DTD (plus too tired!)