The whispers you have heard about the "husband stitch" is not a myth. Though the impact of childbirth is different on each woman, 90 percent of them experience perineal tearing. The tear requires stitching — it's a medical requirement as the vagina and perineum need to heal.
However, an "extra" stitch is done for some women, apparently to make the vagina tighter after childbirth and please the partner. Hence the name. And, according to a Mirror report, women experience this horrifying and outdated surgery after childbirth even today.
Moreover, it isn't always something the woman has signed up for, ScaryMommy reports.
It's scary that this practice is quite prevalent even in the 21st century. Moreover, this outdated surgery actually does more harm than good. Making vaginas smaller do not make them tighter.
According to Fatherly.com, Lakeshia Richardson, a gynaecologist and obstetrician who herself has done this surgery on a few patients, has said she strongly advises against it.
Richardson said: "A very few times patients have been very persistent about it and I have performed it with written consent."
One common side-effect of women who did it often complain is that it has made intercourse excruciating, which in turn had a bad impact on relationships.
Richardson mentioned this, saying: "I explain that you could wind up having pain during intercourse because of this extra stitch. I do not recommend it."
Moreover, the vaginal opening, or the introitus, has little impact on a woman's (or man's) sexual experience. It depends more on the pelvic floor muscles, the gynaecologist noted.
"Right after birth I heard those three cursed words; the husband stitch," a mum recently revealed in a Reddit post.
"I haven't been able to run, use a tampon or have sex for 15 months," another anonymous woman posted on the Bump.
