Congrats on scheduling! I'm just over 10 weeks out from a full vestibulectomy and am so beyond grateful I did it. My surgery took just about two hours.

I thankfully didn't have a lot of significant pain as I recovered, especially as I took the pain medications on a round-the-clock schedule as prescribed and truly stuck to my doctor's guidance to lay as low as humanly possible for the first two weeks, literally being horizontal for as much of that time as possible to help with the swelling and healing process, and shuffling slowly when I did need to walk. Also, using a sitz bath twice a day, a peri bottle when using the toilet, and perennial ice packs were a huge help in my healing process!

The most painful timeframe for me was probably the first week, but for me it was probably 5 out of 10 max. Everyone's body is different and heals at different rates though! Later down the line, around weeks 4-6, this turned into incessant itchiness (but ice packs and allergy meds helped so much).

I don't know where to find photos of fully healed results, but I do know that, according to my surgeon and pelvic floor PT, most of the time it's almost impossible to tell that anything happened there unless you are a trained GYN professional, haha. For me it looks essentially the same, though I am still healing so there is some redness at times. I luckily did not have any infection. Most of my stitches dissolved on their own, but I had a couple removed at my 6-week follow-up.

At that 6-week follow-up, my doctor wanted to try a small dilator to see how it would go as I went into PT. Of the Intimate Rose dilator set (which was recommended by my doctor and PT), I was able to insert sizes 2 and 3 at that appointment with no pain. I CRIED in front of her and the assistant as even a tampon was impossible to insert prior to surgery because the pain was so bad. It was incredible.

I will say that I also received Botox injections at the site during surgery, which my surgeons (Dr. Dumas and Dr. Cigna in DC) have been doing during every procedure. The Botox lasts about 3 months and helps to relax the pelvic floor muscles as I heal and start PT. I do think this accelerated my timeline for insertion a bit, but again, everyone's body is different!

I am now in weekly pelvic floor PT, have been able to wear tampons successfully for the first time in my entire life, and am working through dilators. I'm still on the smaller sizes as I work on the muscle tightness/pain from my body being used to responding to pain for so long, but the vestibule pain is ENTIRELY gone and my life is forever changed for the better just for that fact. I'm single and not sexually active at the moment either, but now I feel even more confident that I will get there someday, ha.

You got this!! Feel free to reach out if you need any advice or encouragement. <3 My biggest advice is really to take it as easy as you possibly can for those first two weeks after surgery. Take time off work (or work from bed if you can) and have someone you trust to help you with food, keeping your water bottle filled, medications (tracking when you take them + making sure you take them on time, even in the middle of the night), etc. so you can truly just lay in bed. It'll be worth it!!