Something at the top of my vulva rotted and fell off

[ZoeM]

I'm kinda worried. I had a clot at the top of my vulva for a while, and when the clot came off it took a couple of bits of rotted flesh with it. (I'm cleaning the area fastidiously ever since)

I don't know what the clitoris looks like during the first few months of post-operative care, so now I'm kinda worried that Dr. Brassard accidentally put it on wrong, and it died - or it got infected from the blood clot and fell off.

What I have left is a groove of urethral mucosa lined with white skin tags, and a couple of loose stitches at the very top left of the vulvar area.
If anyone can reassure me I wasn't just circumcised a second time, it would take a load off my chest. Please tell me the clitoris is just in hiding somewhere? That it's still there? *worried*

[mrs izzy]

Your ok. Relax a lot of skin will fluff off over time


Izzy

Eye spy.

[ZoeM]

Izzy - please read my FB message? 'Cause your photo has a white thing mine doesn't...

[mrs izzy]

Izzy - please read my FB message? 'Cause your photo has a white thing mine doesn't...

You are doing good. Lot better at 1 month then I all around healing at the same mark.

Izzy

[Vicky]

Zoe -- Different surgeon here, but I had stuff come out that looked horrid and like I was some kind of rotting carcass for about 6 months or so.  I am at 18 months now and everything looks clean and normal.  My surgeon used a very similar technique to the one Dr. Brassard uses, and I also threw in a Gynecologist at my HMO who did a couple of post-op checks for me and showed me the real parts that I had and to her they looked like normal healthy, healing tissue that was about where it should be early in the game.  Boy was I glad to have all of my sutures finally get the hell out of Dodge though!! 

[Jenna Marie]

I would definitely send pictures to Brassard and get the expert opinion. (I did that and they were very reassuring.) I will say that for a good *year* I couldn't see my clit without poking around and separating things more deeply than I was comfortable with, thanks to swelling and the healing pattern. However, it was possible to press on the general area and see if there was a spot of heightened feeling; this may not help if you don't have much sensitivity yet, I suppose.

(I also used Brassard, and your description sounds more or less like what I could see for months and months when I parted my outer labia pretty firmly - visible urethral mucosa lining the inner labia, a bit at the top where it was closed [hooded], and nothing else visible.)

[Nero]

Glad I was eating when I saw this.  Seriously though, hang in there honey.

[ZoeM]

I would definitely send pictures to Brassard and get the expert opinion. (I did that and they were very reassuring.) I will say that for a good *year* I couldn't see my clit without poking around and separating things more deeply than I was comfortable with, thanks to swelling and the healing pattern. However, it was possible to press on the general area and see if there was a spot of heightened feeling; this may not help if you don't have much sensitivity yet, I suppose.

(I also used Brassard, and your description sounds more or less like what I could see for months and months when I parted my outer labia pretty firmly - visible urethral mucosa lining the inner labia, a bit at the top where it was closed [hooded], and nothing else visible.)

I can actually already feel every step I climb, just from the rubbing of the pad against the vulvar lips. So, sensation is returning pretty darn fast.

[mrs izzy]

I would definitely send pictures to Brassard and get the expert opinion. (I did that and they were very reassuring.) I will say that for a good *year* I couldn't see my clit without poking around and separating things more deeply than I was comfortable with, thanks to swelling and the healing pattern. However, it was possible to press on the general area and see if there was a spot of heightened feeling; this may not help if you don't have much sensitivity yet, I suppose.

(I also used Brassard, and your description sounds more or less like what I could see for months and months when I parted my outer labia pretty firmly - visible urethral mucosa lining the inner labia, a bit at the top where it was closed [hooded], and nothing else visible.)

Zoe -- Different surgeon here, but I had stuff come out that looked horrid and like I was some kind of rotting carcass for about 6 months or so.  I am at 18 months now and everything looks clean and normal.  My surgeon used a very similar technique to the one Dr. Brassard uses, and I also threw in a Gynecologist at my HMO who did a couple of post-op checks for me and showed me the real parts that I had and to her they looked like normal healthy, healing tissue that was about where it should be early in the game.  Boy was I glad to have all of my sutures finally get the hell out of Dodge though!! 

As always you 2 are spot on.

I kinda have a little inside information so my short notes to Zoe are based on that. I understand her concerns and they are warranted.

What i wish to say to anyone out there. Nothing is silly or a bad question to ask.

When you go home you do not get a book. Just basic information to help you with aftercare. We learn everything through the process, what is normal or what is not. Me i have a few mentors i could ask questions and also a great GP that kept a close eye on things. She is new to dealing with GD patients and asked if she could see the progress so she could help others.

Not everyone has that kinda of help but these girls who post have a very strong grasp of what it takes to get through all the good and bad of GCS surgery and aftercare.

As we keep saying this is surgery and just say it is nothing very pretty to look at for months.

Things get sore, and everything is swollen and to get the map of the land is hard. Things grow or seem to and things fall off. There is lots of mess, smell etc.

These are all things that go with the healing process. Then on top you have the dilation. Trust me it is not a pleasant thing to do and it gets old real fast.

So anyone ASK any question you have, there is a good chance that someone here has had the same issue.

Post op girls are truly a caring Sisterhood. Thanks to all who have helped and still do there best to calm fears.

Isabell

[divineintervention]

Zoe - I am facing the same issue... my right of the clitoris seems normal whereas the left part seems to be empty at the top as compared to the right... not even too sure if there is suppose to be symmetry O.O - I have emailed asclepiade and the nurses have repeatedly said "it is normal"...

[mrs izzy]

Zoe - I am facing the same issue... my right of the clitoris seems normal whereas the left part seems to be empty at the top as compared to the right... not even too sure if there is suppose to be symmetry O.O - I have emailed asclepiade and the nurses have repeatedly said "it is normal"...

If they say it is normal then most likely it is just that.

Healing takes a long time and your looks there will go through so many different changes.

As long as you do not have areas that feel hot to the touch and fever you are doing good.

You will also go through changes with odors. Just keep a eye on that. Not every odor is a problem but if it get to bad check with your gyn or GP.

Keep up with your schedule
Izzy

ps. I did email you back but i think it got booted on your end? so if you have any questions we can try it again.

[Nicolette]

It sounds very much like my own experience. I had some dressing that was stuck to my clitoris with blood for a couple of weeks. It came off eventually. I can't exactly remember the time scales, but it may have been 6 to 8 weeks that I started prodding about whilst having sitz baths and suddenly I felt as if the tip of the glans was being touched. That's when I realised that the clitoris was actually buried underneath where the two labia minora meet together at the top. Before I left Montreal, the nurse explained that the clitoris would eventually blossom and emerge, like a budding flower. It's been 9 months and the clitoris is slowly doing exactly that. I'm not exactly in a rush for everything to settle and fall into place, but I know it will. In the meantime, I get my rush from the g-spot.