An episiotomy is a small incision (cut) made with scissors into an area called the perineum. The perineum is a piece of tissue between the vagina and the anus. This area stretches and thins to allow for the baby’s head to be born with ease. An episiotomy is only performed in an emergency situation. An example of this is if the baby needs to be born quickly, or to protect women from serious tears during delivery or if the mother has to have an assisted birth such as ‘forceps delivery.

Before the procedure is performed a local anaesthetic is gently injected into the muscle to reduce the discomfort or pain during the procedure. As you can imagine sometimes this has to be performed quickly and occasionally the analgesia is not as effective as it could be. An episiotomy will need stitching afterwards and this is usually performed by the Midwife who has been involved in your delivery or the Obstetric Doctor involved in your birth.

From being a routine procedure 10/15 years ago, an episiotomy is now only performed when really necessary.

Your Midwife or Dr should be able to provide you with a sound reason as to why the procedure will need to be performed, your verbal consent is important. This is what is known as ‘informed consent’. Your consent can be accepted verbally in the United Kingdom, but written consent may be required in other areas of the world.

If you have any specific concerns about this issue, make sure you incorporate it within your birth plan and discuss it with your midwife who is looking after you in labour. You may also wish to discuss it again after the birth.