Hysterectomy question.(kind of gross)

This old bag my Father in Law used to date recently told my wife something she rather would not have heard.
The old woman claims that when she was 55 she had a hysterectomy. The doctor had questioned her about her sex life, and found that she was no longer interested in having sex any more.
So…after the operation the doctor sewed her vagina closed, leaving only a small opening for urine.:eek:
As the years went by her body allegedly healed that way, making no opening what so ever.:eek:
(hey, if you think it’s gross reading it, how do you think my wife felt hearing it from this old bag? is it polite to tell an elderly person to shut the f*ck up?)

This sounds like bullshit to me, anyway. They don’t really do that after a hysterectomy, do they? Not permanently, anyway, right?

No. Not even temporarily.

No, they don’t. Not any ethical or competent doctor in any civilized culture, certainly. There are probably some conditions in which it’s necessary to do surgery on the vagina (recto-vaginal fistula, a hole between the anus and vagina that’s usually caused by a severe complication in childbirth, comes to mind), but I can’t think of any that are connected to hysterectomy, and they don’t close the vagina. A hysterectomy involves the removal of the uterus and sometimes the ovaries and/or cervix. The vagina is generally not affected at all, except in a radical hysterectomy, and even then the lower vagina is left intact. I suppose that a woman would be able to find a doctor to perform a surgery like that if she was committed to having it done, because you can get someone to do anything for money, but it’s not routine or normal in any way.

What she described sounds something like what some cultures do to pubescent girls (female genital mutilation or “female circumcision,” depending on your point of view and, in my opinion, level of civilization). It’s not done to 55-year-old women in any case.

I don’t know that I would have told her to shut the f*ck up. I believe I’d have raised my eyebrows and said, “How… interesting” in a tone of voice one might use when asked to comment on a steaming pile of dog crap.

Actually, I have seen patients who have had this done. Back in the old days it was not unheard of apparently for a doc to do a radical surgery and close everything up. Strangely enough, at least one patient I examined had no idea what had been done to her. I had no idea until I tried to do her PAP smear. She had not had an exam in over 30 years, and told me the doc had “removed everything” since she was no longer having sex. I would never have believed it unless I saw for myself. Definitely something I did NOT learn in med school.:eek:

Anatomy lesson: women do not urinate out of their vagina.

Lissa, you are absolutely right. I should be more specific in saying that the vagina was completely sewn shut and the labia majora were sewn together leaving only a small urethral opening. I have seen patients who have had female circumcision and it is an entirely different procedure as a vaginal opening is maintained in the latter case for menstrual bleeding.

Good God. Just how old were these “old days”? My 72-year-old mom had her hysterectomy about ten years ago, and no one even suggested she might consider this option. How long ago would it have had to be for a doctor to do something like this and retain his license?

I’m sorry, psychobunny, I wasn’t referring to your post. I was referring to the OP. The way the OP was phrased, it sounded like pkbites was saying that women urinated out of their vaginas.

If I may, I’d like to ask a couple of questions of my own:

What is done with the upper end of the vaginal tract? Is the cervix left in place? This may sound dumb, but after sex, if the upper end of the vagina was not, uhm, * plugged * in some way, wouldn’t the sperm end up in the abdominal cavity?

Second question: After a hysterectomy, is there any problem with the other organs of the body “sagging” into the vacated space where the uterus used to be?

In a standard hysterectomy, the cervix is removed and the top of the vagina is sewn shut to create what is called the “vaginal cuff”. Alternatively, the cervix can be left and the lower portion of the uterus used to create the cuff. There is quite a bit of controversy considering whether the cervix itself has a funtional purpose after childbirth. AFAIK, the cervix-sparing surgery is more common in Europe than in the United States. Of course, if the cervix is retained, the woman must still undergo routine PAP smears to look for cervical cancer.
In a postmenopausal woman, the uterus is very small, about the size of a large lemon, and abdominal contents, which are freely mobile anyway, easily fill this space.
In terms of “sagging” a much worse problem is what we call prolapse. Sometimes after childbirth the uterus can drop down through the vaginal cavity and hang outside the body. Usually this is an indication for a hysterectomy. After hysterectomy, the vagina itself can evert and hang down and this is one of the possible reasons to do the above surgery although there are many surgeries nowadays to resuspend the vagina (in fact, MTF sex reassignment surgery is often done by inverting the penis and suspending it as an artificial vagina). FWIW, I have done a pelvic exam on a post-surgical sex-reassignment patient and the exam was essentially indistinguishable from that of a woman who had had a hysterectomy.
Now, if you will excuse me, this thread has made me suddenly want to go do many many Kegels (uterine prolapse is not pretty).
Internet Legend-my patient probably had her surgery done 30 or 40 years ago.

Sigh.:rolleyes: I know where a woman pees out of. But this lady claims her outer lips were sewed shut, which could possible block her Urethra opening.
If they did do this too her, is it malpractice?

And wouldn’t it be unsanitary?

Hey, sorry, man, but you’d be surprised how many people DON’T know.

Very much so. Many victims of female circumcision (in which the labia are sewn shut) develop horrible infections which can leave them sterile. Part of the problem can be cause by backed-up menstrual blood which can’t pass as quickly through the tiny opening as nature intended. Getting the area clean would be nearly inpossible, leading to urinary tract infections, yeast infections and a host of other miserable complaints.

No I wouldn’t. Some people are very ignorant.

Another question, one even my wife couldn’t answer: After a woman goes through menopause, does she still get “discharge”?
I’m guessing yes because that is simply a cleaning process the vagina does. If a woman were completely sewn shut, wouldn’t that discharge remain trapped and cause all sorts of problems?

I’m thinking this hag was full of beans and mearly told my pop-n-law this so he wouldn’t press her for sex, but stranger things have happened I know.

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by psychobunny *
[In terms of “sagging” a much worse problem is what we call prolapse. Sometimes after childbirth the uterus can drop down through the vaginal cavity and hang outside the body. Usually this is an indication for a hysterectomy
I have a friend who had to perform a sonogram on a prolapsed uterus as it lay between her legs. --not that it was a suprise because the wife’s husband had warned her about it being where it to be.

There is still lubrication, although menopause usually diminishes the amount of lubrication. The vaginal walls also thin out and may cause some discomfort for some women during intercourse or vaginal play. This combined with less lubrication… well, K-Y helps.

I’m doing 'em right now! Aaaaauuuggghh!

:smiley:

Ohhh… wooozy…head spinning… must remember to let air of pkbite tires for inadequate “(kind of gross)” TMI warning… must… remember tires. all. going. dark now…

Lubrication and discharge are not the same thing, though.
Oh, and my appologies to ASTRO:smiley:

The whitish discharge is usually the protective mucus which covers the cervix, is it not? I would assume that if the cervix is still left in place that it would still create the mucus, which would need to be sloughed off, as it would normally do.

“Discharge” can be any of a number of things, from normal lubrication to the by-products of a vaginal infection

I had a hysterectomy at the age of 22 due to complications from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy (tubal pregnancy). My cervix was removed along with the uterus, tubes and right ovary.

My labia are exactly as they were prior to the surgery. In fact there is no external difference at all. Internally, as far as I can tell, everything seems the same except for the lack of a cervix. (My husband asssures me that it feels better somehow because the head of his penis is not hitting the cervix which is very firm–in fact it feels just like the tip of your nose.) There are no abdominal contents invading my vaginal space.

I have one ovary left so I did not go through menopause or need hormone replacement therapy.

Although I have no problem with adequate lubrication, I do not have the same vaginal discharge as prior to surgery. It is scant, colorless and very near odorless. My WAG is that a woman who is capable of childbearing would have a stronger smell to attract mates.

As an aside, for some women the meatus (opening to the urethrea) is located inside the vagina. I have personally looked for, found and inserted catheters into women whose meatuses were hidden in this way.