What it is
Your c-section scar is numb, or it pulls, or there is a shelf above it. Or your perineal scar catches during sex. Scar tissue is the body's patch: stronger than skin but stiffer, and it can stick to the layers underneath. Nerves cut during a cesarean grow back slowly and not always fully, which is why numbness above the scar is so common.
What's typical
A cesarean scar is closed by about two weeks and keeps remodeling for one to two years, going from red and raised to pale and flat. Numbness often lasts months. Scar massage usually starts after six weeks, once the scar is fully closed and your provider has looked at it. A perineal scar can be massaged with lubricant once healed, which helps some mothers with pain during sex.
What's known
Pelvic floor therapists use scar massage to keep the layers gliding and report less pulling. The research is small and the risk is low.
What helps
- Once cleared: fingertips on the scar, move the skin in small circles, then side to side. Two or three minutes a day, light pressure.
- Ask a pelvic floor PT to show you once.
When to call someone
- Todaythe scar opens, leaks, is red and spreading, or a lump near it is growing.
- At your next visitpulling or pain, a thick raised scar, numbness that bothers you, or pain with sex at the perineal scar.
Who helps
Tools: Birthworker Directory
Related
- Cesarean recovery, week by weekPostpartum: Your Body
- Healing a tear or stitchesPostpartum: Your Body
- Sex after birth: when, pain, dryness, desirePostpartum: Your Body
- Your pelvic floor after birthPostpartum: Your Body
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Sources
- APTA Academy of Pelvic Health Physical Therapy — Patient resource on cesarean scar mobilization
- American Academy of Dermatology — Proper wound care: how to minimize a scar
- NHS — Caesarean section: recovery
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