Since it's been a little while, as a reminder I had penile preservation vaginoplasty (peritoneal pull-through) with Dr Wittenberg in December 2021. You can read a little more about it in my
first post, which also links to all my other posts.
Previous post, six months post-op.
I just had my 12 month post-op appointment with Dr Wittenberg this week, so I figured it was a good time for an update.
Since last time, I had my vesicovaginal fistula (hole between bladder and vagina) diagnosed by Dr Purohit and then fixed surgically by Dr Charles Ascher-Walsh of Mount Sinai's OB/GYN department in September. I did not go with Dr Purohit to fix the fistula because 1) he could not schedule me until January, but mainly 2) because he was excessively pessimistic about the possible surgical outcomes (he said "I'm not sure how to fix it without ruining your vagina," and suggested having a whole new vagina made by sigmoid colon method). Honestly, this was an entirely avoidable emotional rollercoaster, and if you have similar issues I would suggest going to a urogynecological surgeon first over a urological surgeon who also does vaginoplasties.
I'm about three months post-op from the fistula repair now, and mostly healed. I still have a lot of sensitivity/soreness when dilating along my urethra (front wall of the vagina), but Dr Wittenberg says that is not surprising given the time since surgery, the catheter, etc...lots of stuff to recover from. I should stick to the blue dilator for now because last time I tried green, I had some bleeding and irritation that felt like a UTI (which is now mostly healed). A few weeks ago I also had an actual UTI, but I don't think it was from the repaired fistula, and I don't expect it to recur.
Overall, I'm very satisfied. My vagina has a good depth, is wet, and is well on its way to being healed. The scar tissue around the entrance is starting to soften, and Dr Wittenberg had no concerns. I'm excited for it to heal more, though, so I can test it out (and also size up the dilators more).
I asked her about her thoughts on labiaplasty and she played around a bit with what tissue could go where, but ultimately said I should see what Dr Avanessian says (I told her I'm going to try to get Dr Bella Avanessian to do the labiaplasty). She's interested to see Dr Avanessian's notes so she can improve her own (external) technique too! And post-op pictures when I have them.
Lastly, she said everyone in the office enjoys my email updates and to keep sending them! And gave me a hug before I left. I think I'm her favorite patient
