Day 1 to 3
The wound is very painful, the inner and outer labia are very swollen so the stitches are tight. This makes it painful to move; walking is done very carefully with my legs wide apart, sitting is impossible so I hang out on the sofa. Every hour I have to cool the wound; in between I wear my corrective underwear with a panty liner and a rolled-up towel between my legs that presses against the wound. Because I secure my feet over each other, this gives enough pressure. Cooling the wound is very painful, it gives a burning and sore feeling and when I loosen the icepack, the gauze sticks to the wound. Pulling off this gauze is not pleasant. The bleeding gets less and less but the swelling remains the same. I urinate in the shower so I can rinse it gently with a soft stream. Sleeping is a challenge because I cannot put my legs together because that puts too much pressure on the wound. I therefore sleep on my back and under my knees I put a big pillow. Between my legs I still have the rolled-up towel to give counter pressure.
Day 4 to 6
Basically, you only need to refrigerate the wound for 48 hours, but I still did this every morning after getting up for the first week because the wound kept thickening. The bleeding almost stopped. Changing the sanitary pad is still painful because it also sticks to the wound. As I wanted advice on cooling the wound, I called the clinic. I was told that cooling is no longer necessary, but it is allowed if it gives me pain relief. As a tip, I was told that it is handy to put a loose sanitary towel in your underwear (so don't stick it on) and when the sanitary towel sticks to the wound when changing, rinse it under the shower. This way it is less painful. I still can't walk normally, nor can I sit. My outer labia are blue, thick and still feel sore. The inner labia are quite swollen, they seem more swollen than the days before. I do see that the swelling is getting less by giving than counter pressure with the towel. I still cannot put my legs together because the pressure on the wound would be too painful.
Day 7 to 10
The swelling is decreasing a little more and with this, the pressure on the wound is getting less and less. As a result, I can finally move more freely. Walking is slightly better but still doesn't quite manage normally. I have tried to sit upright. This works very carefully on the sofa but not on a hard chair. I try to walk more and more because I notice that my body gets very stiff because I move so little. I no longer sleep on my back but now have a pillow between my knees so I can sleep on my side. Since I am bothered at night by the panty liner rubbing against the wound when I turn over, I tried sleeping without panty liner. This went well as I make sure nothing touches the wound.
Day 11 to 14
I took a walk outside for a bit, this works out normally. I do feel the wound when I walk, but it is manageable. My inner and outer labia are a lot less swollen, only the part of the V-lift remains swollen and sensitive for longer. I can't touch my inner labia yet as this is too painful. Very occasionally it still bleeds. When showering, I gently pat the wounds dry. I have the check-up appointment at the 12e day. Everything looked good, thankfully. The stitches are still in but these dissolve on their own. I wore normal underwear for the first time, but this was still not very comfortable. The corrective underwear gives nice support and because it is tight it ensures that no fabric rubs against the wound.
Only after 2 weeks could I carefully sit on a chair again. I walked all days in sweatpants or sports leggings. After 20 days, I put on jeans, but this did not feel nice because the hard fabric rubbed against the wound. The following day, everything was a bit swollen again, so I went back to my sports leggings.
After two weeks
The treatment has now been three weeks. I still wear as few tight-fitting trousers as possible. I can sit very carefully with my legs crossed. The wound is still swollen and painful at the part where the V lift was performed. Occasionally, it also bleeds a little here. My outer labia have shrunk almost completely, but my inner labia are still sensitive and partly swollen. I contacted Dr Thanya about this and she indicated that this is completely normal and everything will be fully recovered only after six weeks. So I still have to be patient to see what the final result will look like, but am definitely already happy with how it looks now.
