Being a kind of labrat, I did a little experimenting on myself regarding dilation. I wanted to see what is more important: depth or width when I do not dilate for a while. I would not recommend doing the same, but I am the inquisitive type of person I don't mind doing experiments on myself. So here is what I found:
First experiment: I stopped using the widest dilator for a week.
Result: I could gain the width instantly after one week. Did not lose any width at all.
Second experiment: I stopped dilating for 1 day.
Result: It became more difficult to gain depth, it took more time. It also was a bit more painful to reach full depth.
Conclusion: I am close to 6 week post-op. I will not continue this experiment. It is clear to me that even skipping a day dilating, is detrimental for adequate depth. I could gain the same depth, but it took more time and effort. I did not expect such drastic change in just one day. Contrary to my expectation, it seems to be true that dilation to maintain depth is important. At least one time a day. Width seems to be less important, after 1 week I got to the widest possible dilator without effort.
That is why we are given a schedule from our surgeons.
Many have come before us and they have been worked and updated over the years.