Post Vestibulectomy Vulva Pain?

Hi Everyone,

I had a vestibulectomy (with vaginal advancement) 4 weeks ago, and last week I developed new pain not associated with the surgical site on the right side of my labia minora. My recovery was going so well and then this burning, stinging, throbbing pain developed and I've had it for a week now. Has anyone experienced this post surgery? Is this temporary or here to stay? The pain spot seems inconsistent too, like there's sensitivity on my clit and left side of labia as well.. in the past week I've been using hydrocortisone cream and have been soaking in warm bathes abs have tried acupuncture. I feel as though my pain went from a 9 to an annoying 3, which seems like improvement but it worries me as I haven't had this kind of pain before so I don't know if it's temporary irritation or if I traded in my provoked vestibular pain for now unprovoked vulva pain?! I'm scared. Anyone one else experience the during healing process? Does it go away? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Hi ehesser,

I've never personally had the surgery, but I've read posts from other women on here that have said it takes MANY months to heal (like 4+). I can't remember which post it was, but there was at least one lady talking about her pain being far worse until about 6 months after her surgery. Do a search on this forum and read some of the surgery experience posts (unfortunately this forum isn't really very active anymore).

I hope your new symptoms subside and you fully heal quickly

Hi, I had the vestibulectomy done on the 12th of August and I'm 3 weeks into recovery.

My doctor took out the stitches yesterday which was very painful and I just can't resist to look at it today. There's a really ugly growth on the surgical area. My doctor said that there's some swelling because of the stitches. It just looks and feels like scar tissues to me. I have minor hypertrophic scars from my laparascopy but my doctor said that the tissue on the skin is different than the mucosa skin on the vestibule so I shouldn't form those hypertrophic scars when it's healed. I'm wondering if you experienced the same thing?

Another thing I'm also a bit concerned about is that he did a very partial vestibulectomy, only the lower and the most painful part of the vestibules were removed. I still had some redness and a bit of stinging on the upper part but it's nothing compared to the 6 o'clock location. Those minor stings and redness were always there but went away when I used Valium suppositories for pelvic floor muscle spasms. I read the book "When Sex Hurts", Dr. Goldenstein suggested to do a full vestibulectomy just in case so the pain doesn't get worst going to the remnant vestibules but everyone's different and my doctor did a q-tip test b4 he started surgery so I guess the pain scale I evaluated made him determine which needs to be removed. Not sure if this is what ou experienced or any of you had the same experience? I'm a bit worried too honestly but nothing we can do right now.

What was your results of the vulva biopsy? What was the main reason for your biopsy? Do they numb you?

I had a nasty yeast infection after my surgery that I flipped out about, but that's all it was. Maybe its something along those lines?