After 40 years of experence, I never heard about this possible probleme
I have also been around a while and treated girls/women scarred from back surgery. I would say it could happen but it would be a hidden problem. I have never heard any patient mention this, you would have to lead the conversation in that direction first I would suppose AND do not forget the differences of culture and male/female of female/female relationship professional/patient.
Hi Christopher, of course everyone with big ugly scars on their back is aware of them and would have preferred not to have them at all. I know of some fashionable solutions on patientwebsites or blogs on how to adjust your clothing to your scoliosis examples:
http://www.well-women.com/Clothing.html
http://scoliosis-fashion-help.blogspot.com.es/
http://styleforscoliosis.tumblr.com/styletips
and on https://www.pinterest.com/linsans/scoliosis-dress-your-curves/
tips how to beautifully cover your scars :)
i could imagine that having your spine stiffened will have an impact on your sexual abilities but I have never heard people complain about this.... with one exception; pregnancy. I have heard complaints about stiffness and pain during pregnancy only. Of course if you are aware of this issue, you could address it in your history, although I would most probably start talking about this subject at a later state, during therapy.
Interesting sites,
I thought about the psychological aspect-no mechanical limitation.
Thank"s for Your answers.
I do not believe there is a direct connection. Any surgical scars may be a problem in the sexuality of more susceptible and emotional females. In fact, this is the reason why MIS, LIS or similar procedures have been introduced. In scoliosis surgery there is little progress in this aspect and the scars are usually big and long. In any case we apply esthetic skin closure which gives very satisfactory subjective results. As you mention the problem may be a pure psychological one. In the literature there are found more concerns with the rib gibbus (not with the spinal curve !) than with the surgical scar. Thoracoplasty is a good indication for correction in elective cases.
In my experience as a spinal surgeon (over 2000 patients with scoliosis surgeries) I have had only a few female patients whose life (incl. sexual life) was disturbed by the surgical scars. In those cases the patients insisted insisted on excision of the previous scars. That is what I did. The esthetic skin closure led to satisfactory result and relief of the problem.
2 years ago the grant committee of the SRS funded a study looking at sexual performance and satisfaction in females following scoliosis surgery. The study was out of Israel and there was a podium presentation of the findings at the SRS meeting in Lyon, France.
Dear Dr. King,
Could you give us, please, a link to the presentation of this interesting study ?
Here is the grant we awarded in 2011:
Leon E. Kaplan, MD
The Effect of Scoliosis Surgical Correction on Sexual Activity, Pregnancy and Child Delivery
$10,000.00 - 1 year
will see if the work has been published anywhere
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