Butchered episiotomy

[Mumofonexo]

Hi all, I’m over a year postpartum I had a forceps delivery, episiotomy and third degree tear. I can’t find any real life pictures of what an episiotomy looks like when healed only diagrams. I don’t think mine was done correctly hence why I tore so badly. Can someone please take a look and tell me if you think it’s been botched? No doctor will admit fault.

Looks like a lot of scar tissue maybe. My own was quite neat and it really wasn't noticeable once healed.
I wouldn't necessarily say botched. Sometimes they are just tricky to stitch back up perfectly.

I did have some bad stitching done following a later childbirth though (2nd degree tear, no episiotomy). GP referred me to gynecology and I was able to get it "refashioned" under GA. However, this was only because it was causing daily discomfort when walking. They're quite stringent on whether it's necessary treatment, not just aesthetics.

I know no one sees down there but it’s made me feel really self conscious 🥺 it looks like I’ve had a chuck taken out or something.

Did it hurt after your repair?

i don’t think they can do much with scar tissue as I’m sure it would just make more scar tissue?

I can't see how it was botched- When you say it wasn't done correctly, do you mean the actual procedure or the stitching?

I had an episiotomy 9 years ago and all the stitches broke down. Healing was horrendous because they didn't restitch, just left it to heal naturally. I was still getting some niggly pains with it a year on, I think. It did get better though. It just took a long time.

I can still feel it - it's a bit sensitive and probably always will be. - at the end of the day it was a significant wound in a sensitive area and it won't be the same again.

It took awhile but as above, unless it's causing real problems, treatment won't be given.

Yes, I was warned it could create more scar tissue.

No it didn't really hurt much afterwards. Just a bit of discomfort from the stitches. But mine was a case of being stitched up too tight and completely uneven so I had a sort of knot of extra skin.

Bear in mind scar tissue can heal a bit, very slowly, so you might improve on your own.

Such an unhelpful comment.

op if you feel you’ve got some issues with scarring etc make sure you ask for a referral to gynaecology where they will check you for keloids and excess tissue and if they feel it’s necessary they can remove the scar tissue and re stitch you (I had this done, it just wasn’t healing well). I can’t tell from your photo if this is the case though.

Mine has left a weird tight bit and then bubbles of flesh on the inside that you can see just at the entrance but feel further in too.

As long as it's healed and not causing significant issue then I think its fine.

Ffs. Women matter too. OP is perfectly entitled to be upset that she now has this scar that doesn’t even appear to be all that close to her vulva.

Yes women and babies matter, that’s why their lives were saved. Trying to get doctors to ‘admit fault’ for what is a very common complication of op’s kind of birth is very unfair

I was lied to about the risks of forceps being risk free and told I would just have minor grazing.. I also told the doctor multiple times not to cut me and she still did it. I ended up with a third degree tear and now my sphincter is damaged. I think I’m entitled to feel upset that I was butchered and cut without consent. The scar causes me pain also.

Hey the actual procedure. The angle it was done doesn’t look correct from what I’ve seen online of diagrams. I’ve also showed it to a friend who’s a midwife and she doesn’t think it looks right.

Bless you! Same thing happened to me. Absolutely awful healing process isn’t it.

It’s just upsetting that it does cause pain and a pulling sensation and not much can be done 🥺 I keep being told to do scar tissue massage

Thank you! its like she cut halfway across my perineum randomly?

its not her that’s been left feeling disfigured and was left with a random cut that’s cut through pelvic floor muscles unnecessarily.

yes I’m grateful we are both alive but at the same time I’m not grateful as surely that is the bare minimum you’d expect from giving birth. The entire experience has left me traumatised from how badly I was treated. If you tell someone not to cut you then they shouldn’t or at least explain the process properly for forceps. You wouldn’t be able to cut someone in the street and get away with it.

Did you have issues healing OP? Looks a lot like the texture of my emergency c section from DC1 which became infected.

Had planned c section with DC2 2 weeks ago and the surgeon told me it was difficult to cut through the existing scar because of how weird it had healed.

Have you tried massage as suggested as that makes a massive difference with scarring?

Hi OP, my first birth was same as yours: forceps, long episiotomy and a 3rd/4th degree tear. It looks like you have a bit more scarring, part of my episiotomy (further down towards my leg) was very neat and healed over as a small line, but unfortunately very early on the top part opened up completely and they refused to stitch it back together because of infection which left me with a triangular hole for about 8 weeks - it was very painful (I could hardly walk it was a nightmare) but I had to let it heal from inside out. Your scar tissue looks a bit like how mine does in that triangular area so perhaps it’s an area that thickened more and a wider scar. Did it heal correctly? No dr ever took responsibility for it breaking down or healing like that and with hindsight even though I was upset at the time I’ve come to realise (because of other surgeries I’ve had since) sometimes our bodies just don’t heal the way we want to, even if a great surgeon has looked after you it can still go wrong. I would say if it doesn’t hurt then you’ll forget about it soon enough and it just becomes a part of who you are now. If it hurts (and mine was very sensitive for a long time) you can always try bio oil on it. I also had to have a steroid injection there once it had healed (so there are options if it is causing problems). I was also told to also massage it to stop scarring building up.

edited to add: sorry mine did also have a pulling sensation and there was a bit of a skin bridge that got created. I’m sorry you had such a horrid experience, it left me upset for a long time and not wanting another baby. I felt completely traumatised about the birth. If you’re still feeling upset about everything it might be worth looking for a therapist to have a chat as it helped so much (I wasn’t going to have another baby I was that traumatised by the whole thing) ..after some therapy I did go on to have another baby by c section.

Hey yes I did, the stitches popped open and I was left to heal naturally 😢
mine also got infected.

sorry to hear you had a difficult recovery too. How have you recovered from your second section?

Hey yeah I’ve done massage it has helped the tear slightly but the episiotomy not allot unfortunately.

How nasty. If you're not going to try and empathise and help the OP, please hop off the thread. Have a nice day.

Hi lovely I’m sorry to hear you also had a bad birth and tear too. Yeah mine got infected and the stitches opened up 🥺
I’ve only ever had my wisdom teeth removed so I’ve never had another proper surgery really to compare if you know what I mean.

I might try the oil thank you 🩷 it pulls and hurts if I sit on the toilet or move in a certain way.

yes I feel too traumatised to have another baby (that was my first earth side child after loss) i just feel so upset absolute the situation I even looked at getting my tubes tied because I’m that scared to fall pregnant again after going through this.

I agree I definitely need to talk to someone as I still get flashbacks from the birth and I find blood now very triggering as I thought I was going to die.

so pleased for you that you had another baby 🩷

Sorry to hear that, could contribute to the appearance of it.

Much better this time thank you OP! The difference in a planned versus an emergency is insane. I was up and about painkiller free within 3 days this time, last time I couldn’t get out of bed for 4 weeks!

If it makes you feel any better mine looks quite weird too. I had to have a repair after it came apart and some of the skin around it died and had to be cut away so harder to restitch. Makes you understand how women used to regularly die from childbirth, it’s brutal and infections are awful. I’ve never been too worried about how it looks though - to be honest a lot of my body wasn’t the same after having children.
Are you done with childbirth op? I had a c-section the second time - much better, would definitely recommend. Like you I found the whole experience traumatic, but he’s a teenager now and time definitely helps!

My episiotomy with my first birth (no tear) healed much better than my 2nd degree tear with my second birth, which I think is why they do them for instrumental deliveries where the woman is likely to tear anyway if they don't. Unfortunately you had a tear as well and then the stitches came apart so it could be difficult to say whether the episiotomy itself was botched. You should definitely be entitled to review things though, both from a mental health perspective and to see if they can do anything to improve things surgically if you want. You are entitled to complain as well if you don't feel things were done properly or your wishes were ignored when they didn't need to be. My hospital offered all women a post birth review if they wanted one - does yours have anything similar?

Oh bless you sorry to hear that 🥺 that’s why they said they didn’t want to repair it as they would have to cut more skin away and it could cause more issues. Gyne said they’d cut through the puborectalis muscle though so that and sphincter damage will probably cause me incontinence. It’s awful what can go wrong and 100% brutal.

I was very lucky I never gained weight or got stretch marks but I’d trade all of that not to have had a severe tear.

we are most probably one and done which makes me so sad tbh but I feel so traumatised by the entire experience.

sorry you had a traumatic time too x

It’s the angle that they did the cut which doesn’t look right to me it’s like they started midway through the perineum. I’ve got a meeting at the hospital to discuss everything so hopefully they can offer some sort of help 🥺 thank you for understanding 🩷