C-section healing time?

How long did it take you for your incision to heal?





I'm 3 months post partum and my incision is still open.

C-section healing time?
This is NOT normal and you should see your doctor as soon as they can get you in. My incision healed pretty quickly. It left a scar but nothing 'open'. It scabbed over and then healed within a few weeks.





There are all kinds of medical reasons why this could happen, but this is serious and you need to get medical attention as soon as possible. I'm not really sure why they didn't catch this at your 6 week check up.





EDIT after your more recent information: I've never heard of anything like that and I'm surprised they aren't taking it more seriously. I would get another opinion and possibly testing to see why the wound isn't healing. Perhaps you may need to go to a wound care clinic where they specialize in wounds that are slow to heal.





I'm so sorry your going through this, sounds horrible. Especially when you are busy with a new baby.





Do you have diabetes or a circulation problem? Sometimes people with diabetes or circulation problems (heart, etc) are slower to heal.





Are they giving you antibiotics? I would also air out the wound rather than keeping it covered all the time, give it a chance to air out. What about antibiotic ointment like neosporin if you don't have a prescription antibiotic?





Don't hesitate to get another opinion, it won't hurt and might help put your mind at ease.
Reply:I have been there, same thing emergency c-section, put you to sleep, you don't have much say in any of it.


I seem to remember still having scabbing 6 months after.


It was explained to me like this, you have a few layer of internal stitches inside. My body was extremely sensitive to those and they didn't necessarily disolve like they were suppose to. I actually passed some stitches through the wound. That is why the external wound wouldn't heal. Sounds pretty gross but it was more annoying than anything.


As long as medical experts are aware of whats going on I wouldn't worry. It does happen to some of us.


Just be very careful with any strenous activity that could cause it to keep opening.


Good luck and I hope you are enjoying that new baby.
Reply:I have had 3 C-sections and never once did I have a problem with it healing. I would see the OB/GYN because having it heal by secondary intention can lead to infection (other than the sutures/staples), hospital ought to know to give you an antibiotic! It may be that the suture/staple(s) caught a portion of your skin layer and when it was removed, that portion tore open. Either way, your OB/GYN should be helping take care of that. You can keep triple antibiotic on it along with a bandaid, keep it moist at all times (not wet) and it can heal, but an antibiotic would give you extra protection.





Good luck!
Reply:sorry i'm not sure but maybe u should call the hospital where u gave birth at
Reply:Ooo...nasty. It should have healed by now. Are you getting it dressed regularly?





There can, with all surgical wounds, be delayed healing and this happens for many reasons. If they tried to close it and something happened to the wound, they would have had to go for 'healing by second intention' ie letting the wound heal naturally with the aid of a good diet and dressings. ('healing by first intention' being the use of stiches or surgical clips.)





This is a really difficult subject to advise you on without knowing more information. I'm a community nurse in the UK, so I'm used to healing wounds, but would need to know more to even hazard a guess as to why its taking so long. If you do want a more in depth answer please email me with the answers to the question below and I'll try and help you further.





Are you seeing a nurse or doctor to have it dressed regularly?


What is it being dressed with? Names or types of dressing would be useful.


How long, wide, and deep is it?


Is there any fluid coming from the wound? If so, what colour is it, does it smell, and does it soak through your dressing?


Is the wound bed clean (pink/red flesh) or does it have yellow/green stuff in it or a bit of both? If a bit of both, can you give percentages?





Send a photo if you feel comfortable/able.





Nurse Emma





Additional: Are you packing with ribbon gauze? And packing with wet gauze? That is very rarely done in the UK. We use absorbant hydrocolloid dressing that you pack in dry and they remove the yellow stuff (called slough) and absorb up to 10 times their weight in fluid. Also, by changing your dressing twice per day you will be increasing your healing time. The wound needs to stay at body temperature as much as possible. If you are removing dressing then the wound won't be as warm and the blood vessals will vasoconstrict. When you redress the wound it won't start healing again until its has returned to body temperature. Try only dressing when you can see fluid coming through(if this is happening everyday, then you need a different sort of dressing) and use saline that is warm (the wrist test is a good guide for temperature).
Reply:ask ur doctor! i heard whey you have c section they give put a needle in your spine? or something? it suppose to be painful like no other.





was it as bad as ppl said?
Reply:You need to see your OB/GYN IMMEDIATELY!!! It should have healed by now. Having any open incision (especially one into the abdominal cavity) can lead to horrible infections of the skin or peritoneum. You may need some additional stitches, or possibly tests to see why you haven't healed at this point.





Best of luck!

survey monkey