Exact Answer: At least Two To Four Weeks
Medical surgeries are taking place everywhere all around us. The field of medicine has developed beyond measure and has treated many incurable ailments thoroughly. Different types of surgical procedures can be used to treat every organ of your body.
Many surgical procedures can differ even based on the gender of the patient. One such surgery is oophorectomy, which treats the female reproductive system, which can be classified into unilateral and bilateral oophorectomy.
There are many activities that you must abstain from after the surgery and one of them includes driving. You can start driving after two to four weeks for safety measures.
How Long After Oophorectomy Can I Drive?
| Name of the Procedure | Risks of undergoing them | Ways to perform the surgery | Reasons to undergo the surgical procedure |
| Oophorectomy | Even if the procedure is very safe, there might be some risks too. Some of them include bleeding, damage of nearby organs, infection, rupture of the tumor, infertility, and much more. | The two common ways to perform this surgery are laparotomy and minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. | You can undergo the procedure if you have any reproductive issues like ovarian cancer, endometriosis, tubal-ovarian abscess, ovarian tumors, ovarian torsion, and much more. |
Oophorectomy is technically a procedure to remove the ovaries from a female reproductive organ. Your ovaries are next to your uterus, which is located in the pelvis in your lower abdomen. These ovaries regulate the menstrual cycle of your body, produce hormones and eggs in the female body.
Unilateral oophorectomy is where they remove an ovary, and bilateral oophorectomy removes both ovaries. Sometimes oophorectomy can be a part of a hysterectomy, which helps them remove the uterus.
You can undergo an oophorectomy even if you are a pre-menopausal or post-menopausal woman. But just like any other procedure, there is risk involved even in this. But, if you have any sort of medical illness regarding your ovaries, it is advised to undergo the procedure for prevention and cure.
Why Do I Have To Wait For At Least Two To Four Weeks To Drive After Oophorectomy?
You will experience menopause and any other normal reproductive organ function. If your ovaries are removed, your body will be deprived of reproductive hormones like estrogen and progesterone. You have to prepare yourself before the procedure like stop eating for certain hours before the surgery, stop the intake of medication, and undergo certain tests to prove if you are healthy enough to take the test.
Oophorectomy can be approached in two ways basically, which are laparotomy and laparoscopic surgery. In laparotomy, a long incision is made on your lower abdomen, which helps the doctors gain access to your ovaries. Then the surgeon removes the ovaries from blood and tissue. This is a simple procedure, but laparoscopic surgery is more complicated than laparotomy.
Since the procedure is used for pelvic inflammatory diseases and chronic pelvic pain, the stitches are on your lower abdomen. Even after closing the incision, certain activities can make them come loose. You will be medicated with anesthesia and you will spend some time in the hospital.
Even after you come out, you might experience some pain in your lower abdomen, experience fever, nausea, swelling, urinating trouble, and much more. It will take at least two weeks for the stitches to heal. So, if you want to drive before that, make sure you have an automated vehicle.
When you drive any vehicle, you put pressure on your lower abdomen, which might unravel the stitches and make you bleed. This will interfere with your healing process and so, it is advised to stop driving for at least two weeks after the surgery.
Conclusion
Even if you feel you have healed, it is better to stay put for two to four weeks. If you ever consider driving, make sure you get advice from your doctor and consult them. You will also have to make sure you are not under any medication that makes you drowsy.
If you are not in your full consciousness while you drive, it might lead to severe disastrous accidents. So make sure you are fully healed for at least four weeks before driving normally.
Reference
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10689-020-00208-y
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3880394/