Once you have undergone a c-section, there are various precautions that you need to take to ensure a faster recovery and one of them is taking good care of the incision (scar of the surgery) post delivery. It is important to take care of the incision, because chances of getting an infection, bleeding, pus formation and other problems could flare up if you fail to take care of the incision the right way. Here are 12 causes of a c-section that you should know.
Once the surgery is done your doctor will dress up the incision and make sure that you are comfortable with it. There isn't much you need to do to take care of the dressing following the surgery as rest is all that will be advised to help it heal faster. During your hospital stay, your doctor or the staff would be visiting you to change the dressing and check on how well it is healing. Usually, after a c-section, you need to stay in the hospital for around five to seven days and the staffs help you to take care of the dressing. Here are five things you need to take care of after a c-section to ensure faster recovery.
Since you are not allowed a bath after a c-section there are fewer chances that the cut could get wet and increase chances of infection as it is important to keep the dressing dry for faster recovery. During your discharge, the doctor or staff might do a secondary dressing (a lighter dressing with some medicines, gauzes and bandages) but still ask you to not wet that area. You might be called after a week to remove the secondary dressing and you will be allowed to take bath thereafter. Read to know when you can take a bath after a c-section.
Here are the following ways in which you can take care of your incision at home:
If you get a discharge with a secondary dressing on, make sure that you don't make it wet. Ask your caregiver to be cautious while giving you a sponge bath.
If the incision is covered under the fold of your skin and you sweat a lot then keep a towel over the cut to prevent it from getting soiled due to excessive sweating. However, it is imperative to take rest and avoid any kind of heavy-duty work after a c-section, this should prevent excessive sweating.
Be careful while cleaning yourself in the loo as the incision is very close to the vaginal area.
Once you visit the doctor post operation (after a week), your doctor will remove the secondary dressing, as by now the cut might have healed considerably. If you had staples they will dissolve on their own and if you had stitches your doctor will remove them now.
By now there will be less pain at the site of operation and your doctor will allow you to take a bath after removing the dressing.
Once the dressing is removed take optimum care to reduce chances of infection.
Use a mild soapy solution to clean the area. Don't scrub. Just clean the area with the water lightly and pat dry.
You don't have to do this separately; you can just clean the area during bath time and pat it dry.
Your doctor might prescribe antibacterial gels or powder to apply on the area. Use them at least twice a day or as advised by your doctor.
Avoid lifting heavy weights or doing abdominal exercises that can put a pressure on the incision and slow recovery.
These simple measures can help to take care of the incision without much fuss. However, despite doing this if you see any kind of bleeding, redness, pus at the site of operation get it checked from the doctor.
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