CHAPTER VI.
INJURIES TO THE PERINEUM.
The injuries to the perineum that may result from childbirth are classified according to the position or the direction and extent of the laceration. They are as follows: slight median tear; median tear involving the sphincter ani; tear in one or both of the vaginal sulci; subcutaneous laceration of the muscles and fascia.
All these injuries demand operative treatment. The operation for the repair of injuries to the perineum is called perineorrhaphy. It is called immediate or primary, intermediate, and secondary perineorrhaphy, according to the time after the receipt of the injury at which the operation is performed. The primary operation is done during the first twenty-four hours. The primary operation should always be performed. A careful inspection of the perineum and the posterior vaginal wall should always be made after labor, and any laceration should be repaired within twenty-four hours. The advantages of the primary operation are many. The parts are usually so numb that it is not necessary to administer an anesthetic. No denudation is necessary, and therefore no tissue need be sacrificed. The woman is spared the pain and discomfort of granulation and cicatrization.
The bad results that follow neglect of the primary operation are very numerous, and will be studied hereafter. The injured muscles retract, and, being functionally useless, undergo atrophy, and when finally repaired never possess their former strength. Involution in the vagina and the uterus may be arrested, and all the disasters incident to subinvolution may appear. Vaginal and uterine prolapse occur; the natural supports of the vagina and uterus become stretched, and, though afterward the perineum may be restored, yet it may be found impossible to retain the uterus in its proper position. It is always good surgery to repair an injury as soon as possible.
When practicable, a certain amount of preparation of the patient should be made before the operation of perineorrhaphy. This is most easily effected before the intermediate and secondary operations. The vagina and the vulva should be sterilized, and the intestinal tract should be emptied. Thorough evacuation of the bowels is most important when the sphincter ani has been injured, because it is desirable, after operation for this lesion, that the bowels should not be moved for five or six days. A saline purgative should be administered on an empty stomach about five hours before the operation, and a rectal injection of soap and water should be administered about one hour before the operation. Whatever purgative be employed, it should be administered at such a time that its action shall have ceased by the time of the operation. If this precaution is not observed, there may be a discharge of feces that will infect the wound and interfere with the manipulations.
For operation upon the perineum the woman should be placed in the dorso-sacral position ([Fig. 1], page 23).
The intermediate operation is performed during the granulation period—ten days or two weeks after labor. At this time the raw surfaces are covered with granulation-tissue and bathed with pus. The edges of the wound and the surrounding tissue may be hard and swollen from infiltration with inflammatory products. In the intermediate operation it is necessary to administer an anesthetic or to anesthetize the parts locally with a 10 per cent. solution of cocaine.
All cicatricial tissue, granulation-tissue, and rough edges should be scraped away with the knife, the scissors, or the curet. The raw surfaces should be thoroughly washed with a 50 per cent. solution of peroxide of hydrogen and a 1:1000 solution of bichloride of mercury. The sutures should then be introduced.