Sexual rehabilitation of post-hysterectomy patients

  Having experienced a variety of hysterectomies at work, many patients or relatives have mentioned the problem of sexual life after surgery, mainly because they are worried about the effect of surgery on sexual life, and there are also many patients who are ashamed to raise such issues despite such thoughts.  Some women think that after hysterectomy, the pelvic cavity is empty, the vagina is shortened and there is a scar at the end of the vagina, so they are afraid to try to have sex after surgery, even if they can barely have intercourse, the fear and worry in their hearts replace the physical and mental pleasure they should have. In fact, common gynecological surgery such as simple hysterectomy itself does not affect sexual function physiologically, but the cause of sexual dysfunction after surgery is often psychological. The normal uterus is only the size of an egg, so removing the uterus is like removing a stool from the bedroom, but the bedroom doesn’t become empty, and the surgical incision at the top of the vagina generally heals completely about 3 months after surgery. The hysterectomy alone does not shorten the vagina. Moreover, the sensitive areas of sexual life are mainly in the breasts, clitoris, labia and the first third of the vagina, and the center of sexual pleasure is located in the cerebral cortex, so the removal of the uterus does not affect the sexual life.  As for hysterectomy with a larger surgical scope (such as extensive hysterectomy in radical cervical cancer treatment), it may have some impact on sexual life, but it does not mean that the patient cannot have a normal sexual life or lose her feminine characteristics. At this time, it is especially important that both spouses should understand and care for each other and coordinate together.  In addition, some misconceptions should be eliminated, such as sexual life can transmit cancer or make cancer recur, etc. It can be said that resuming sexual life at the right time after surgery can help patients recover in time. However, it should be noted that sex can only be resumed after the post-operative examination to make sure that the tissues have completely healed.