Neo-Vaginas and Dilation

An archived Twitter thread to dispel some misconception on the aftercare of vaginoplasty surgery

2021-04-26

Because the “neo-vaginas are wounds that close of they’re not dilated daily” nonsense is going around again, here’s some education based on actual first hand experience:

First: no, this “open wound” claim is simply not true. All wounds from the surgery during which the neo-vagina is constructed heal completely within a few weeks, just like with any other surgery.

Inside the neo-vagina there is no blood or anything else you’d expect from an injury. It’s literally a pocket made of skin.

It’s actually really dry in there which is kind of an issue. I definitely need to add lube for any kind of penetration.

Some more modern techniques incorporate mucus producing tissue that can self-lubricate and produce discharge, just like a natal vagina does.

But I have one of the older models so I won’t get into that.

(There’s also no hair growing inside, since that is another misconception that also floats around a lot.)

The purpose of dilation is to stretch the skin inside and get the pelvic muscles adjusted to this new setup so that if/when you want to have penetrative sex it doesn’t hurt and can actually fit a penis/fingers/toys/whatever.

Dilation should be done daily for some time after the surgery while things are still healing to prevent inflexible scar tissue from forming. After a few months usually you can reduce the frequency of dilation drastically.

My main surgery was almost 2 years ago with a revision about 6 months ago. I dilate maybe every two weeks but sometimes I skip it if o don’t feel like it.

I’ve had times when I didn’t do it for months and it was fine.