3rd degree tear & skin bridge

[alice77]

This post is going to contain TMI but what's a bit of vay-jay-jay details amongst friends!!

So I got a 3rd degree that extended superficially to my anus. The stitching was "beautiful" according to everyone who saw it (and lots of people saw it!). It was healing up well and even DTD was not so bad although we did it VERY slowly. But then gradually, each time we DTD it got more uncomfortable and stingy. I was having physio appointments for my kegels and I told the physio about the pain and she had a good look and informed me I had a "skin bridge" at the top of the tear at the bottom of my opening where my body has started healing itself a bit TOO much- a little bit of skin has jumped over the scar to the other side and creates a bridge. She told me to massage it every day and stretch it so it becomes flexible.

I have tried massaging it but it feels so weird and makes me feel a bit ill so I've only done it about 3 times! DTD has become too uncomfortable so now I'm basically a non-participator . This morning I thought I better just have a go at massaging it before it's too late and the skin bridge goes hard. But as I started I felt a POP of skin tearing a bit!!!

Has anyone had similar experience with skin bridges or painful/uncomfortable scarring? I'm hoping that somehow it will get better.

Any advice?
encouragement?
positive outcomes?

[2CheekyMonkeys]

i had a 2nd degree internal tear with DD1 and it took sooo long for the stitches to dissolve, like months. finally came out and there was a hard ridge of scar tissue which hurt when DTD. i was told to massage it with vitamin e cream, never did though. it stopped hurting around the 12 month mark.

this time i had an episiotomy and i found that DTD wasnt too bad first go but each time subsequently has hurt more and more and like you say its really stingy. its wierd cause with each round of DTD it hurts more. that didnt happen with first lot of tearing, it just hurt the same the whole time.

anyway, i am hoping it will sort itself out with time. bloody annoying though hey

[Snacks]

Oooh, ouch! Could you go back to a gyno and see about maybe surgically fixing it? Or seeing if it will go away of its own accord in time?
How long has it been since the birth?

[~clover~]

I ended up with something like that after DD2. I tore in the oppisite direction though, so I had no idea til she was over 12 months old.
Mine was towards the front (quite an odd spot if you ask me!) & thankfully was far enough forwards that I didn't feel it. Have no idea if its still there since DS though
I'm not sure if you're better off waiting til its healed properly or not? They might be able to fix it?

[Becs_bubs]

I think it might be worth getting looked at? After I had my first bub, I should have been stitched, but they couldn't find the doctor to do it so after a hot shower, the bleeding had slowed and the midwife took a look and thought that the tears should heal up nicely by themselves. (I had grazes on my labia as well). Well, it didn't heal up nicely. I ended up with a completely fused labia - my opening was about the size of a 5 year old girls My GP thought she could fix it 3 times, but each time she was wrong...she just simply used a speculum (for doing pap smears) and tore me back open, then gave me oestrogen cream to put on the wounds to keep it from re-sealing. Eventually I had to be referred back to the hospital to see a surgeon...who had to perform an operation and do a repair. After healing up properly, I had a ridge of scar tissue that made DTD uncomfortable and even painful....and even now, 7.5 years on, different positions etc can be slightly uncomfortable. But continual massage (as painful as it was) and just DTD, even if it was a bit painful, did eventually help. But if it's worrying you, go and see a doc and get another opinion - you might be a candidate for a repair, or they might be able to give you some other advice based on what they see

[2CheekyMonkeys]

oh my goodness becs-bub, that sounds horrendous i would have been furious with the hospital and the GP trying to rip it back open! sheesh!

[angelaartsstudent]

Yep I know exatly how you feel.

I had an episiotomy and a week ago the wound was still open...the scar tissue in behind it had forced it open. Pain pain pain pain...

I have to see a gyno privately as the hospital flatly refuses to see me and may require a bit of the scar tissue cut out.

So I would very much suggest you make sure you see a gyno too!

[Becs_bubs]

oh my goodness becs-bub, that sounds horrendous i would have been furious with the hospital and the GP trying to rip it back open! sheesh!

I was furious with them!! Looking back I should really have at the very least had the doctor looked into, if not taken some action against her myself....it really was quite barbaric. (and yes...she was a SHE...who had kids herself and you would think might know a little of what being torn open might feel like) But it was my first bub, and I was traumatised from what was happening, which was just piled on to the normal learning how to do everything/lack of sleep thing.

I DID however, have to threaten to sue the hospital in order to get them to act, which is really quite sad. I had Talisha in early October, but the hospital were adamant that they wouldn't have anyone available to fix it until late January the following year. 2 weeks before Christmas I was fed up and faxed them a letter saying 'if you don't fix this, I will engage a lawyer". 10 mins later I get a phone call saying "can you come in tomorrow morning for an operation??"