In my specialty areas of labiaplasty, vaginoplasty as well as other plastic-surgery procedures I perform, one of the main areas where people have questions is regarding pain. They want to know if the surgery will hurt while in progress, and they also want to know how much pain they’ll experience during recovery. Let’s discuss this whole “painful” subject.
First, let me state that most people who undergo a procedure that will deal with extremely sensitive tissue, such as labiaplasty, have an option to be asleep, under anesthesia, during the surgery. The result, of course, is that you are unaware of any pain associated with the procedure.
There are other procedures where you might experience mild pain. For instance, during nose surgery (or rhinoplasty), there is some discomfort, but honestly, most patients find it to be less than they imagine.
In fact, pain is more of an issue after the procedure than during. In the case of the nose surgery we just mentioned, most people’s pain Is mild enough that a simple over-the-counter pain reliever is able to handle it. The same holds true for most other facial plastic surgery.
Following most breast procedures, there is also mild pain for a few weeks. You might not be able to lift your arms above the head for a few days. Your doctor is also likely to discourage you from lifting anything moderately heavy for a couple of weeks. But as with nose surgery, most patients report that breast-related surgery caused less pain than they had expected One possible exception is when breast implants are inserted beneath chest wall muscle, when the recovery pain is a bit more intense.
Following labiaplasty and vaginoplasty, the patient is almost always able to go home the same day, after having been asleep during the procedure itself. The surgeon will likely suggest a mild pain reliever to help her, but she is generally only bed-ridden for a couple of days. After that, the pain is minimal and does not prevent her from going to work. She is, however, advised to refrain from any overly-aggressive activity. For instance, she should return only gradually to an exercise routine. Likewise, sexual intercourse will cause some pain and discomfort. Therefore, the doctor usually advises that she wait about six weeks before returning to sex, and even then, gradually getting back into it.
Plastic surgery is real surgery, so pain is expected. Fortunately, it’s also very controllable.
