TAH: Upcoming hysterectomy 10/6. Did you use binder.

My surgery is set for 10/6 having TAH, thinking about buying a binder. How helpful was this for your post op. Yes or no. Thanks

Great question! Mine is on the 4th, so I'll be following this to see what the ladies suggest!

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Originally Posted by czurlanis My surgery is set for 10/6 having TAH, thinking about buying a binder. How helpful was this for your post op. Yes or no. Thanks

No. 🙂

I had a TAH with a 7" vertical incision. Didn't have a binder, never wanted one. *If* I'd discovered that I needed one, I would have asked my upstairs neighbour to go to Walmart and buy one for me.

Some doctors say not to use them. Also, some hospitals hand them out for free.

My TAH was on Sept 15. I bought a binder in advance, but ordered the small size, which was too small for me after surgery due to much more swelling than I anticipated. So I didn't use the binder. I carried around a pillow and used that for belly support instead. Wish I had ordered the larger size binder. I would have used it for sure. It would be nice to have hands-free belly support, especially when getting in and out of bed or walking around.

I bought a belly binder and used it very little. Had abdominal surgery and mostly wanted no pressure on that area--even to point of going commando beneath jammie pants or loose sweats. This was especially true the first week of recovery when I was only walking inside the house.

The few times it was in use, I was sneaking out into the garden to pull weeds because I was going stir crazy in my bedroom or I was building up my walking strength (2.5 weeks and on). It does help in your posture, because I found myself wanting to curl forward. But the swelling was more than I expected and the binder was never on for more than 20 min at a time--too uncomfortable.

If you don't mind supporting your belly as your recovery walks occur and you can remind yourself to stand up straight, you can probably do without the binder. There are other things post op I found vital. This was not one of them.

I personally didn't buy one, but doctor put one on me after surgery. Glad i had it, gave me extra support walking around and getting up and down. Slept in it the first 4 days too, freed up my arms to help get out of bed instead of holding pillow to belly.