20 Days After Labiaplasty

I had just gotten out of the shower and was checking my messages when I had the thought: "Since I'm naked and holding my phone, I may as well take a photo of my twat". So, here it is, twenty days after the labiaplasty surgery:

It's settled down a fair bit, the right and left sides are looking a lot more even in thickness, which is good. One thing that bothers me slightly is how my left side labia is almost 'cut' in half - you can see how it folds away and the reappears about halfway down its length. When I feel it, it seems like the labia was almost cut down completely at that point. 

I'm still going to give it some time, and perhaps it just folds that way because of the position I sit in when I take these photos, but I really don't like the idea that my labia were "over trimmed". The only reason why I think my surgeon may have done that is because I asked her to cut all the brown parts out just before surgery. Maybe I will contact her and ask if that's what happened.

In other news, it looks like my private health insurance will pay for some of my surgery after all! They're at least going to pay for the hospital admission, minus the $250 excess. That means I'm expecting about $1200 back in a rebate. I won't go into the full details yet, because nothing has been finalised yet, but it means my upcoming cost breakdown post will be a bit delayed. I'm very relieved about being covered after all. Some miscommunication seems to have happened between my doctor's rooms and the hospital.


Another post I want to write soon is what I've learned from Reddit when I linked this blog in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) submission to /r/Sex and /r/TwoXChromosomes. Some of the comments there were pretty illuminating. I want to try one more AMA on the much widely read /r/IAMA board first though, so I'll hold off on that post til I gather more thoughts from the Reddit community.

But those posts will have to wait for now. I'll blog again later.

Home from Labiaplasty Surgery

I'm home from hospital now. The labiaplasty was apparently successful. I am feeling fine - very minimal discomfort but I'm using ice packs right now as a preventative measure for the swelling that is meant to occur.

The morning started early with a 7am admission to hospital. I had been fasting since midnight for the general anaesthetic that I was going to receive. The admission went smoothly and I paid $1565 for the theatre fee and a day bed. After a while, I changed and was rolled into the operating theatre. The plastic surgeon asked if I had any last minute requests. I confirmed I wanted to have my labia shorter than the outer labia, to have them as similar in length as possible and then I asked to have all the brown parts removed. So at the last minute, I did end up having some aesthetic requests after all. 

I asked about my period and the surgeon told me that she would remove the tampon during surgery and replace it with a wrapped up icepack.

The last time I saw on the clock was 9:05am. When I woke up in the recovery room, it was 10am, so the surgery took less than an hour. In recovery, they insisted I eat some sugary soft drinks and an icy pole, which I was happy to have. I was in recovery for about 2 hours - not because I really needed to be, but because the nurse on duty wanted me to have an escort to the taxi rank. After waiting for a long time for an orderly though, she relented and I left on my own. I caught a taxi and was home by midday. I was still a little groggy from the general anaesthetic so I changed the icepack and went to bed where I slept until about 4pm. 

I'm still feeling quite comfortable - a local anaesthetic was used as well as the general. I'm not sure when it will wear off. I've already used the toilet which resulted in some slight stinging but nothing major. I patted my vulva dry with toilet paper and then washed quickly in the shower. There was a little bit of blood on the paper that wrapped around the icepack. I can't tell if it's menstrual blood or blood from the sutures, but either way, it's only a few small drops, so I'm not worried.I have been given a number of medications (which were additional expenses out of pocket) to take. These include an antibiotic, which I think is more of a preventative measure than anything. The surgeon mentioned that if I suffered thrush frequently, I shouldn't take the antibiotics, but fortunately it's not a common problem for me. I was also given anti-swelling medication and two painkillers - regular paracetemol and much stronger oxytocin. I haven't needed to take any painkillers yet and I doubt I'll need the oxytocin at all.

I've taken a photo of my vulva now that it's been about 8 hours since the operation. It's looking significantly smaller and I can't see any of the old brown patches, which I'm very happy about. I'm told that the shape will change over the next few weeks as swelling and scarring settles - although the area is meant to scar very well. I'm planning to take daily photos for a few more days and then maybe one a week to see how it settles over time.

Overall, I have to say I'm feeling pretty happy about it all :)