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We Need to Talk about Wound Care in Transgender Women Healing From a Vaginoplasty - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
Up to 30 percent of transgender women who have undergone a vaginoplasty suffered from some form of infection, yet current research does not offer recommendations for wound-care improvement.
magazine.nursing.jhu.edu
A lot of transgender women who undergo a vaginoplasty report being frustrated with the health care system and lack of competent practitioners who can provide quality care for gender-affirming procedures (medical procedures that affirm a transgender person’s gender identity).
These procedures, such as hormone therapy, “top” surgery (i.e. mastectomy, breast implants, etc.), or “bottom” surgery (i.e. phalloplasty, vaginoplasty, etc.), are deeply important to the transgender individuals who choose to undergo them; medical gender affirmation has been shown to reduce mental health risks and improve quality of life in this population.
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Yet seeking medical gender-affirming procedures frequently results in discrimination and patients are limited by a lack of competent providers and insurance coverage options.
During my second clinical rotation I cared for postoperative vaginoplasty patients; my job was to assess and care for their urinary catheter and surgical wound. After a vaginoplasty, a patient’s wound dressing must be kept in place for no less than five days and cannot be removed or replaced for that entire time. The wound dressing is a latex condom filled with gauze and a tightly wrapped gauze “brief”—think of it as a very tight homemade diaper wrapped around the abdomen, buttocks, and vagina. When patients have a bowel movement, nurses remove the stool and clean it as best they can.
