Hardened discharge on clitoris after vaginoplasty

[mistyjensen]

Hi,

I had originally posted a message on this topic in the Gender Correction Surgery sub forum at Susan's. But I now think that the following message is more appropriate here:

On Oct 24th, Drs. Jess Ting and Marci Bowers performed my vaginoplasty surgery at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.

I'm very worried about whether I have lost a part of my clitoris to necrosis since the surgery. There has been a consistent presence of yellow-whitish, hardened  discharge - I assume slough- on part of the clitoris for the last four weeks since surgery. Moreover, following my surgery, the position of the clitoris looks like it has changed somewhat.

This morning, I emailed Dr. Ting a photo of my vulva taken a few days after my surgery, and a closeup photo of the clitoris taken a few days ago. He quickly responded back that the clitoris looks okay, albeit swollen. I asked him if it is normal to have a buildup of yellow-whitish discharge on the clitoris following surgery. Dr. Ting said that he doesn't think I have necrosis. Is it normal to have black and yellowish - whitish hardened and moist discharge on the clitoris following surgery?

I have a follow up appointment on Dec 12 with Dr. Ting that I scheduled two weeks ago. I'm anxiously awaiting to meet with him that day.

[Jenna Marie]

I would trust the surgeon before I'd take the opinion of anyone on the internet... but with that said, I did have black crusty spots (it was dried blood) and yellowish-whitish stuff (fibrin) in other areas, and both were a normal part of healing. In addition, the position of *most* of the structures is going to change over time, as swelling decreases and everything settles into its final configuration.

[Dena]

You may have bleeding for a couple of months after surgery and it can happen when you bump a surgical area or during dilation. This can be dried blood, pus or plasma and depending on what it is, the color will be different. This is far different in healing than a small cut on your body as it's much deeper and bumping the surgical area constantly opens up the surgical area. In addition at 5-6 weeks the sutures will dissolve and you will get additional bleeding every time one pops. It can look really nasty at times down there but it will heal and improve over time.

[Jenna Marie]

Dena: I would actually recommend that she consult her surgeon about bleeding, as well, because I was told that significant (enough to stain a pad) bleeding after the first couple of weeks was worth checking in about. I also did not have noticeable bleeding by the time I went home at 9 days post-op - a couple of smears on the dilators here and there. And the dissolvable stitches were supposed to be mostly gone by the end of the second week, which seemed to be true as far as I can tell.

[mistyjensen]

Hi ladies,

Thank you for your feedback.

I don' see any visible bleeding on my clitoris. That said, I do think that I had eshars on the clitoris from the trauma of surgery followed by necrosis. It is nerve wracking to see no pink skin under the discharge. I assume the discharge is slough. Or, it could be fibrin as you say.

I feel that I'm entitled to a second opinion from a medical professional besides my surgeon. I asked my primary care medical provider if she would be available next week to check the state of my clitoris. I haven't heard back from her, yet. Getting a different and unbiased opinion might be hard for me to get as my primary care medical provider and surgery work closely with another.

[kimbee777]

Hey Caitlyn, I went to Dr. Bowers and I actually had the same or very similar problem. My gyno never said what it was called exactly but I think its fibrin/slough buildup. Mine wasn't black though, just yellow and hard. I had some in my vagina as well but the stuff on my clitoral area took about two months to finally go away!! My doctor tried picking it off but it hurt too much so we decided to let it come off naturally. I was so scared but it ended up fine. Please update us as your healing progresses.

[mistyjensen]

My primary care provider told me during my appointment with her that my clitoris looks healthy.  Dr. Ting says the clitoris looks okay, albeit swollen. During my appointment with Dr. Ting, he administered a cortisone injection into my clitoris.