Barbie Butt Surgery Recovery - Seeking Advice and Encouragement

Hi there, I'm new to this site and from the UK. I had my Barbie butt surgery 5 weeks ago. I had a plastic surgeon perform a flap from my left buttock to use to close the wound. It's healing well but feels pretty uncomfortable. I can now sit on a pressure cushion for 10 mins at a time and can build that up gradually over the next few weeks to an hour. Anyone had a procedure the same as this? Any words of encouragement as to when it will start to feel ‘normal' and not like I have something wedged in there? Thanks x

Hi Roo, welcome to the site. I don't think I sat totally upright for any length of time for at least 6 months when I got my ileo and butt removed 30 some years ago.

It takes a long while, but it will get better. It was a few months, I think. Keep the area clean in hot weather especially. I can remember it's been about 5 years or more for me, but it's totally good and feels normal there now. Patience.

At Roocat... this flap was created by a plastic surgeon?

Not your rectal doctor at the time of ileo?

This puzzles me. Involving a plastic surgeon.

My rectal doc sewed both cheeks together like a bridge above the surgery to close the rectum. Help it stay intact. Good idea mechanically. Bad idea feeling it while sitting 😆😳🤦‍♂️ Yes, a wedge feels like a kind of thing since October 2023 surgery. Just does not feel right... nope... perhaps time will help get used to it... so far... short on time. 😁

Please explain how a plastic surgeon gets involved doing something a rectal surgeon should have done in the first place?!

Who came up with this idea?

G'day Roocat, I am also trying to work out why you had to have a skin flap to cover the area. I also have a Ken Butt, but all he did was stitch the two sides together. What was the reason for the skin flap? Regards, IGGIE

My Ostomy Journey: Bruce | Hollister

Warrior, I am 5 months post-surgery for colostomy and Barbie butt surgery. A plastic surgeon did Barbie butt and a colorectal surgeon did colostomy on me.

Ah, ok... that clears things up... I think... maybe... dunno. Sorry. Never thought a plastic surgeon would be called in on this... but you might have a newer take on this... a new way... the next big thing? I just never thought of it. Glad it worked out for ya.

Skin flap? A stitch of the two cheeks, you mean? I'm calling it a bridge... a trestle... some kind of skin tag attaching both cheeks, yet low...

Terminology here really trips me up.

Flap blows me away. So Iggie, you and I got this and one other so far.

Do you know the reason behind this being done? I'm thinking to keep rectal stitches intact. Thoughts?

Hi Roocat. I also had this done about 5 weeks ago and am still unable to sit on my bottom. I sit or lie on my sides. I know it's a bit further down the line for you now, but I'm curious if you had a lot of drainage from your bottom at 5 weeks? This is something I'm still dealing with and am wondering if others have had the issue for this long as well. I've been changing gauze about 3-4 times a day.

When I talked to my surgeon about doing the surgery, she mentioned plastic surgeons might need to be involved. I had rectal cancer in 2005, and the cancer doctor decided to try chemo, then chemo/radiation, then chemo again once the cancer was gone. It worked well at the time; however, the muscles in the area got weaker and weaker to where they don't really work anymore. I had a colostomy 2 years ago, but the mucus drainage has become a real issue. I can't control it at all, obviously, so I have to do a daily enema to clean out so I can function. I'm 70, and getting down to do that can't work forever. Because of the damage done to the muscles, the surgeon may have plastic surgery come in and look at the area to make sure we aren't creating more issues by the rectum removal with the weak muscles. She wouldn't go into too much detail because she wants my A1C below 7.0 before we really talk about it. We went to Ireland in October for our anniversary, but the first three days were awful because I had so much drainage, couldn't find the right pads to use, had to know where bathrooms were, and was limited in walking... awful. I can't say I WANT the surgery, but I want my life back.