How Long Adter Child Birth Before You Can Have Sex Again

The average time to expect before having sex after a loop electrosurgical excision process (LEEP) is about 4 to six weeks. Depending on how much of your cervical tissue is removed, you may need to wait a longer or shorter time before having sexual activity. Generally speaking, the more than abnormal the cervical tissue, the more time it volition take the neck to fully heal.

Verywell / Emily Roberts

What Is LEEP?

LEEP is a procedure that'due south done to scrape aberrant cells from the surface tissue of your cervix.

LEEP is frequently used as a method for obtaining specimens of your cervical tissue so they tin be examined to decide if you have cancer or cervical dysplasia, a condition that tin can pb to cancer. If this type of cancer or precancer tissue is found, it can be removed with LEEP. The procedure is typically done after less invasive procedures, including Pap testing or colposcopy.

If abnormal tissue is found during Pap testing or colposcopy, LEEP may be done to examine and care for the abnormal prison cell growth. Colposcopy is a noninvasive procedure using a microscope-like device to view your cervix.

Sex and Risks After LEEP

Having sex before your cervix has healed completely later on LEEP would increase your risk of infection.

In add-on to not having sex activity or vaginal penetration, other precautions include:

• Do not take tub baths for a specified length of time (commonly about three days after LEEP). You can have showers.
• Do not use whirlpools or Jacuzzis.
• Use sanitary napkins (pads) instead of tampons.

Call or see your healthcare provider to find out how long you should await to resume sexual practice.

You should also call your healthcare provider if any of the following occurs during your recovery:

• Abnormally heavy bleeding (heavier than your menstrual flow)
• Bleeding with clots
• Foul-smelling vaginal discharge
• Fever over 100.4 F
• Abdominal hurting.

Even if you feel fine and believe your cervix is fully healed, you should follow your healthcare provider'southward guidance well-nigh when information technology will be safe for yous to start having sexual practice once more.

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Potential Obstetric Risks

Most people have balmy or no complications after LEEP. However, the removal of cervical tissue in LEEP tin can weaken your cervix, and this tin can crusade pregnancy complications.

In general, LEEP is also associated with difficulty getting pregnant, as well as increased risk of pre-term birth and/or low-birth-weight of the infant. These risks pass up ane year later the process.

• One study has shown that among people who have previously had LEEP procedures, miscarriages were reported at a rate of about 18% in pregnancies that occurred less than 12 months after the procedure.
• In some other report, people with previous LEEP procedures had a vii.2% rate of preterm deliveries, whereas the control population had a 4.half dozen% rate of preterm deliveries.
• The take chances of preterm delivery increased in people who have had echo LEEP procedures; therefore, information technology is advisable to avert having repeat LEEPs, especially during reproductive years.
• In pregnancies that occurred 12 months or subsequently later on having LEEP, no significant difference emerged in the rates of miscarriages in people who had the procedure.

Other Side Effects of LEEP

Some women have reported discomfort during sex after a LEEP process, including vaginal hurting, dryness, and a feeling of painful pressure level on the cervix.

• The vaginal hurting and cervical pressure may exist due to narrowing of your neck after the procedure; this should improve with time as y'all continue having sex activity.
• The dryness frequently goes away with fourth dimension. In the concurrently, vaginal lubricants tin can help. Make sure that your healthcare provider says that it's safe to apply these products before yous use them.

Foreplay and heightened sexual arousal may aid naturally occurring vaginal lubrication and help save discomfort.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How soon can I get pregnant after having a LEEP?

  Doctors usually recommend that you look six months subsequently a LEEP process earlier you try to conceive. Y'all should have a clean bill of health from your OBGYN start, though, to be sure the abnormal cells are gone.

• Does having a LEEP bear on your ability to have an orgasm?

  At that place is some research showing that women who have had a LEEP procedure lose some ability to orgasm and take less sexual satisfaction. However, more than research is needed to understand how or why this happens and how information technology tin be treated.

• How much exercise you usually drain after a LEEP?

  Within a 24-hour interval or 2 later the procedure, yous'll find some chocolate-brown discharge. This may exist a combination of the solution used during the LEEP and blood. You may continue to take bloody belch for about four days. Bleeding can come up dorsum and proceed every bit you heal over the next two weeks. Contact your healthcare provider if yous notice blood clots or haemorrhage that is so heavy you lot have to alter your pad every hour or two.

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Verywell Health uses only loftier-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts inside our manufactures. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-bank check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP).

2. Ciavattini A, Clemente N, Delli Carpini 1000, et al. Loop electrosurgical excision process and take a chance of miscarriage. Fertil Steril. 2015;103(4):1043-eight. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2014.12.112

3. Heinonen A, Gissler M, Riska A, Paavonen J, Tapper AM, Jakobsson M. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure and the take a chance for preterm delivery. Obstet Gynecol. 2013;121(five):1063-eight. doi:ten.1097/AOG.0b013e31828caa31

4. Johns Hopkins Medicine. Fertility and Pregnancy After a LEEP.

5. Cendejas BR, Smith-McCune KK, Khan MJ. Does treatment for cervical and vulvar dysplasia affect women's sexual wellness? American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2015;212(3):291-297. doi:10.1016%2Fj.ajog.2014.05.039

6. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. About Your Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure (LEEP).

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Source: https://www.verywellhealth.com/sex-after-leep-581945

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