I had an emergency C-Section 10 months ago and all healed well with no probs, but from time to time it STILL gets really itchy and I still don't have all the feeling back in the scar area.
I had a c-section too and I get itching, it even feels itchy inside sometimes (which really sucks, cause you just can't scratch inside.)
I've been told that it's normal and can last for up to and even over a year!
I don't have feeling in some spots, don't know if that will ever come back-severed nerve endings. If it's sore though, maybe you should get it checked out?
Mine is still itchy and I still have the numb feeling in it too. I had it done a little have a year ago now, it nice to now that there are others out there with the same symptoms as me. As I have been really worried that something was wrong with me, now I know its normal.
I had my c/s just over 7 years ago and it still gets itchy and tender at times. Especially when DH comes in for a big bear hug and ummm..certain parts of him rub against my scar LOL! When I do the dishes, the bench top also touches my scar and irritates it.
My last one was nearly 6 years ago. I have no sense of touch there and it itches on and off still. I also had a dead patch in the middle of my back for about 4 years after my 1st epidural, luckily my next two were spinal blocks not epidurals.
My mum still has some numb parts & her last c/s was 21 years ago last October.
As for the itching, is it something new or an ongoing thing? I'm not sure if it's ongoing, but I do know that pregnancy can cause your scar to itch in the early stages.... Is it a possibility?
I've had 2 c/secs, my first & last deliveries. With the first, the numbness got significantly better during the next pg, then heaps better after about 5 years. It never disappeared completely.
I had very bad itching and most of the scar was still raised and red, not flat, at about 8 months postpartum. A nurse friend was suprised when I told her that & advised me to see a dermatologist. I did and he was able to solve the problem in just two visits. He said to me, "Those obstetricians! They don't understand the dermatology of what they do." He diagnosed me with hypertrophic scarring & explained that something could have been done much earlier on. Water under the bridge--I was just happy to stop scratching!
With my 2nd c/sec, I could tell from Day 1 that it was going to be a much better recovery. I still have numbness in the same part of the abdomen where I was numb before, but the scar has healed beautifully with no sign of hypertrophia.
How much are you itching? Does it wake you at night? Is the scar raised? If so, then ask your GP for a referral to a derm. BTW, I shared the dermatologist's comment with my current OB. He laughed & agreed that he knows nothing about dermatology. Because he's at a teaching hospital, I suggested that this would be a great seminar topic for the registrars! It's something that is important to many women, yet the OBs tend to dismiss it as a minor outcome. And as the derm said, it's easily avoided or if caught early, then much less of an issue.
CASTLE, I THINK YOU MAY HAVE HELPED ME TOO!!!
I've been following this but didnt post because I have the same story as everyone else... I just thought it was normal, or maybe because of hair follicle's coming through the scar & irritating it making it raised and a little red. I dont know whether to see someone or not, as I'll be having another c-section next time around & don't know how far away that will be...
Mia's Mum,
It's worth seeing someone about it anyway. It CANNOT be hair follicles coming through--no hair will ever grow through the scar, all follicles there are destroyed. I was pg again when my first was 13 months old. It doesn't matter if you have another c/sec because the problem still needs to be resolved. I would suggest that you see your GP and insist on a referral. In the past (with moles etc) I've heard very different advice from the GP vs the dermatologist, so I think a derm is the way to go. Good luck!
What did the dermatologist actually do to fix it? I have a keloid scar (raised, red, itchy) and want to get it treated. Mine's from keyhole surgery so only about 1cm long but it drives me crazy. Can only imagine how much worse it would be if it was a c/s scar.
And does the solution also help cosmetically - as in, does the redness go?
Hi Lil MG,
Oh yes, you can imagine how I felt. The itching drove me mad & I felt that I could not go around scratching like that for the rest of my life!
The dermatologist was at pains to stress that my scar was hypertrophic, not keloid. I didn't ask more b/c I was interested only in solving the problem! Later, I asked another dermatologist about that. She said that current thinking is that only dark skinned people have true keloid scarring. Hypertrophia & keloids are like 2 points of progression on the same line. Keloid scars get worse & keep getting worse--more raised, more scar tissue, more itching, etc. Hypertrophic scars get worse for a period of time and then stop. She also said that you cannot really predict who will have bad scarring; it is probably genetic & probably has something to do with the amount of collagen in your skin. You can have a bad result on one occasion & a perfect one on another (this is what happened to me). Also, keloids/hypertrophia, if they occur, are more likely to occur on the trunk than anywhere else.
The dermatologist gave me a cream to rub in. This was nearly 12 years ago now, so I don't remember the name of the cream. It was prescription. Then he had me come back a month later. By that time the scar had gone down considerably & the itching was much less. He told me to continue & come back in another month if it wasn't virtually perfect. A month later, it was! Yes, it also helped cosmetically although I'm not sure how much was the cream & how much was just the passage of time. The scar became totally flat & looked like a thin white line.
He told me that if they know you are prone to hypertrophic scarring, they can inject something at or just after the time of surgery to prevent it. In the incision, I think? I really don't remember very much about that.
I was concerned about the scarring after my 2nd c/sec 9 months ago, but because my baby was premature, I let it go. I could tell by my 6 week checkup that the scar was going to heal well. The current scar is a bit bigger which annoys me because the baby was literally less than half the size, and it's still red, but completely flat and thin.
HTH! Definitely press your GP for help with that.
Thanks Castle! I diagnosed myself as having keloid simply because that's what came up when I googled my symptoms! And like you, I have other scars that never turned out this way so I guess the trunk thing seems to have a lot of truth. I figure I can't treat it until the end of my pregnancy - not sure if the cream will be safe but I'll be making an appointment with the dermatologist directly after! In fact, the wait is usually so long, I think I'd better make it now!
There is a place in Melbourne (Bulleen???) that treats these sorts of scars - I have one myself and and thinking of going there. If you google scar tissue asking for Aust. only it will come up (a little down the list but it's there!)
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C-Section scar itches - 10 months later???
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