Woodruff's procedure and vulvodynia.

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I posted a while ago but have moved from New Zealand to South Africa

since then and wasn't sure if my message got to the group.

On the 18th of March I had what is called a Woodruff's procedure which

is basically vestibulectomy for vulvar vestibulitis. The surgeon removes

The skin around the perineum where the chronically inflamed glands are.

I was told that it would be 6 weeks until I felt better but I'm still in

quite a lot of pain and wonder if there are any other

People out there who have had a similar procedure and if they could let

me know if it helped and how long it took to help. I also have the

complication of a vulval neuroma on the one

Side as well so whether this is contributing to the pain, I'm not sure.

I'm still taking salt baths and not sure if these are helping either. I

just long for some hope of relief after 23 years of pain

And countless operations. I would appreciate any help on this subject.

Thanks

Verity

[Guest guest]

Verity, have you spoken with your doctor? Can he give you some meds

for pain relief until this begins to subside? I haven't had surgery,

but you betcha I'd be asking for meds in a case like this.

The doc (or a new doc if that makes you more confortable) should be able

to assess the situation for you regarding whether or not the neuroma is

in a flare. I have two in between my toes on my left foot and there

isn't anything quite like that nerve just firing away while I'm tryin

to walk. I can't imagine that pain shooting at me between my legs.

I do know that they remove neuromas in the feet, I wonder if they

suggested removal of the vulvar one for you?

Make that doc understand that you need relief...

Please write again, so we know how you are doing.

Dusty

Woodruff's procedure and vulvodynia.

Hi Everyone,

I posted a while ago but have moved from New Zealand to South Africa

since then and wasn't sure if my message got to the group.

On the 18th of March I had what is called a Woodruff's procedure which

is basically vestibulectomy for vulvar vestibulitis. The surgeon removes

The skin around the perineum where the chronically inflamed glands are.

I was told that it would be 6 weeks until I felt better but I'm still in

quite a lot of pain and wonder if there are any other

People out there who have had a similar procedure and if they could let

me know if it helped and how long it took to help. I also have the

complication of a vulval neuroma on the one

Side as well so whether this is contributing to the pain, I'm not sure.

I'm still taking salt baths and not sure if these are helping either. I

just long for some hope of relief after 23 years of pain

And countless operations. I would appreciate any help on this subject.

Thanks

Verity

[Guest guest]

I had a vestibulectomy in Jan. of 2002 and was still in great pain at 6wks

post op. However, I progressively got better every day and am happy to say by

Jan. 2003 I was and still am almost 80% pain free. I take an occasional Vioxx

25 mg after sex, but that's all. Unfortunately, I do not know what a neuroma

is, but if you have had several surgeries you may have a lot of painful scar

tissue. I know it's the last thing you want to hear right now, but " you have

to just give it time to heal properly. " Please keep us posted.

Best Wishes,

Kelli

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/2/04 8:52:17 AM, VulvarDisorders writes:

<< On the 18th of March I had what is called a Woodruff's procedure which

is basically vestibulectomy for vulvar vestibulitis. >>

Hi Verity,

Goldstein has mentioned Woodruff's version of the vestibulectomy on the

vulvodynia list and if I remember, he's had nothing nice to say about it. But

you

should take that with a grain of salt, Goldstein has another version of the

surgery that he sells and his version is not necessarily better - just the one

he's marketing. You might want to search the vulvodynia list archives with the

term Woodruff though, the technique has been talked about on that list.

There may be some information in the archives about the best ways to maximize

it's

results:

http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/vulvodynia

From years of reading the vv/vvs lists, it seems to take months not weeks for

most women to recover from a vestibulectomy. I think Sandy had the best

recovery time that I've ever read about and I do believe it took her longer than

six weeks to shake off the post surgery pain. Lollipop Sara on the vulvodynia

list just had some glands removed and it took her at least three months before

she stopped complaining about the post surgery pain.

<<People out there who have had a similar procedure and if they could let me

know if it helped and how long it took to help. >>

If you go back through the archives and read the surgery outcomes, it seems

most women found pain relief when they added additional treatments after

surgery, like physical therapy, dilator therapy, drug therapy like

Elavil/Neurontin,

etc...

If you have moved half way around the globe since your surgery, I would

expect your recovery to take longer. I'd continue with the sitz baths and doing

whatever you can to keep the inflammation at a minimum. Did your doctor plan to

have you do dilator therapy after the surgery? If I remember, most women

started dilator therapy about six weeks after the surgery.

Anyway, you're really just now reaching the six week mark and I do believe a

lot of women have had much lengthier recovery times. I wouldn't start

worrying yet. However, do keep in mind that the women who have seen the most

results

from surgery have also had to do additional treatment - either physical, drug

or both to maxmize the results. I'd search the vulvodynia list archives -

there is information about recovery times there.

Debbie

Tiger