I recently had vaginoplasty, and I’m looking for a pad of some kind that is not too stiff and not absorbent for putting under me during dilation. Something that I can wipe with water, or optionally alcohol if it’s safe for the plastic, but won’t absorb anything or stain from the blood.
I usually use “chucks” (of a cheaper brand) with a paper towel and then the pad that I was wearing before. But often just a bit of the slop from discharge, lubrication, and blood will make its way to the chucks and stain them. I’m just picky and don’t like to use them after they have a few spots. But if I had a small mat of silicone or other plastic I could wipe down that was thin enough to be relatively comfortable, not slide too much, and not tear easily that would make the chucks almost never get dirty and not require throwing out so many of them. For a bit I was using some bags that my ice packs came in just cut in half and removed the zipper lock portion. But I threw those out before traveling home after surgery and they weren’t exactly ideal anyway.
I tried searching Amazon and various medical supply places, but they are all disposable or “washable” and thus stainable since they’re meant to be absorbent. But I have the other layers for that. And I found like sex blankets, but those were all like the size of the bed. I just need something like 2-3 square feet at most. Doesn’t even need to be as large as the chucks, just fit under my butt and around it enough to catch overflow.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Edit:
So far my best solution has been to use the chucks with a silicone layer and then I fold the pad I was wearing if it didn’t have too much surface blood and discharge. The silicone layer is the key since I can just rinse it. I’m a little obsessive about not laying on stained stuff and definitely not wet stuff. Autism related likely…
But also I’m already creating a lot of medical waste trash and I really want to reduce that as much as possible so the puppy pads wouldn’t help there, but I also don’t have the ability to do laundry myself, so I don’t want to burden my friends who are helping me out with that kind of stuff, so towels/rags are not good there. Having issues with nerve pain, and stairs are still difficult for me for laundry. So something i can quickly wash in the bathroom sink with mild hand soap is ideal.
Problem is finding the right layer of plastic/silicone. I tried a piece of a 12 inch baking mat roll that I cut to 18 inches. It is really flexible which is nice, but it sticks to my skin, so positioning and then getting up is a pain. I then tried a craft mat. It’s a little stiffer, so it sticks up in front of my vulva and makes it harder to see what’s going on with the mirror as I’m dilating, but it sticks less to my skin and is a little easier to clean since it’s a little smoother. Ive also tried putting down a paper towel to sit on, but again, produces waste, so OK, but not perfect.
Still looking for a perfect, smooth and flexible plastic/silicone layer. But so far this combo has allowed me to keep the expensive chucks mostly clean. I also use separate chucks for sleeping on and with the reduction in bleeding, my pads mostly handle that anyway, so those I keep for a while.
Thanks for all of the suggestions!
Not the same use-case but I got one of the platic mattress protectors for baby beds/cribs.
I’m afraid plastic/silicone layer sticking to skin may be unavoidable to some extent. Personally I would get something I don’t mind staining and wouldn’t be hard to clean to put on top, eg. small black or brown microfibre towel.
Another option is to make your skin less adhesive. You can look into the powders designed to make putting on latex clothing easier. A baby powder will possibly work as well though I have no experience with those.
Yeah towels/rags will be a good option once I can do laundry on my own.
But the powder option might be worth looking into. Just have to avoid talc for obvious reasons. I have some of that, but it’s not for body, it’s for tent seam/patch sealant drying/making it less sticky before folding it up.
Added some more details to the original post on what I’ve tried and the things I’m trying to work around. The craft mat so far has been the best, but has issues since it sticks to skin a bit more than ideal.
A towel
Still absorbent and will stain from the blood. Not wipeable like a silicone or some other material that I can clean nearly instantly.
this is why I have some “rag” towels I don’t mind staining or using for tough jobs
Is the shower not an option? Just spray everything straight down the drain afterwards.
This is for protecting the bed and not going through so many expensive “chucks”/absorbent bed pads for minor leakage… I use a bidet, and a spritz bottle with diluted peroxide per my doctor’s recommendation until things heal better, for cleaning myself.
I use a larger and higher quality chuck as a safety, and on top I use a cheaper, thinner, and smaller puppy pad that I don’t mind throwing out. The larger chuck I can use for a week or longer without replacing assuming I don’t have any accidents, but the smaller puppy pads catch all the mess and get disposed of.
Part of why it’s nice to have an absorbent layer under is that I end up lying in it for a while and puddles of lube and blood are uncomfortable.
I’ve also found it can help to take a squeezed out wet wipe or some absorbent material and fold it up and place it as a dam, beneath the vagina (basically held in the butt cheeks, from the anus / perenium area down). This absorbs a lot of the discharge that runs down, which makes me more comfortable as it reduces the puddle.
You might be able to find decent sized silicone mats searching for electronics work pads or something like that. Maybe “anti static silicone work mat”…





