Episiotomy during vaginal delivery was first recommended in 1920 as a way to protect the pelvic floor from lacerations and protect the fetal head from trauma. It was rapidly adopted as a standard ...

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I am pregnant with my first child and was told by my obstetrician that in some circumstances an episiotomy is necessary. I thought this was no longer done and that it's actually ...

You probably know enough about episiotomies, an incision that enlarges the vaginal opening so your infant can emerge during a vaginal birth, to know that you'd prefer to avoid a snip down there, thank ...

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds no benefit from episiotomies, a commonplace procedure performed on women during childbirth. The procedure is intended to help ...

An episiotomy is a cut in the perineum that used to be standard procedure during birthing. But recent research has advised against it expect in cases of fetal or maternal distress. To recover from an ...

The study included 442 women with episiotomies or second-degree tears who were randomly assigned to receive 3 doses of amoxicillin (500mg) with clavulanic acid (125mg) or placebo. HealthDay News — ...

A new study from Johns Hopkins suggests that routine widening of the vagina, a procedure known as an episiotomy, does not reduce the risk of injury to infants during a complicated birth, such as when ...

I have always understood an episiotomy to be an incision made to the side of the vagina, so that any tearing will be directed along its line toward the relatively harmless area of the mother’s thigh.