Post-surgical Recovery

This section is referring to OB/Gyn procedures with a vaginal approach, or rather through the vagina, and not your abdomen.

To keep an open field and see easily during the operation, the vagina gets dilated with instruments. This prolonged stretch on the vagina can leave the patient feeling painful or sore. Many women having these procedures are older and fall into the same tissue tolerance issues I describe in the postmenopausal intimacy section of this website. If the woman is postmenopausal, her vaginal tissues do not tolerate stretch well.

To help with the pain and swelling, many women get big, long pouches filled with crushed ice from the ice machine in the hospital to place between her legs after such surgeries. I am told that these pouches can feel bulky, coarse, and uncomfortable. Icing the area after surgeries is not a novel idea, and we know that icing or cooling tissues helps decrease inflammation and helps with healing in all tissues, but I am suggesting that S/he*Pak is a more comfortable and reusable option for women, even when they have gone home.

While S/he*Pak is categorized as an ice pack, and a non-prescription product, it is always a good idea to consult your OB/Gyn surgeon about inserting the S/he*Pak after surgery.

S/he*Pak can provide relief in a tapered, clean, safe, and dignified way, while you recover!