Sitz Bath Vs Iodine Antiseptic (Betadine) Imbibed Gauze for the Management of Perineal and Vaginal Tears

Aim: Sitz bath is a warm or cold bath used for healing or cleansing purposes. With over 85% of women having a vaginal birth who sustain some form of perineal trauma and placed on Sitz bath without really effectively applying it, we thought of proposing an alternative simpler and relatively effective method: iodine based antiseptic(betadine) imbibed gauze cleansing. Study design: A randomized prospective trial Setting and period: January 2009 to June 2009 in the central maternity of the Yaoundé Central Hospital because of the diversity and inflow of patients. Methodology: All women who suffered a perineal or a vaginal injury during delivery and who gave consent were recruited, into different treatment groups depending on randomization, by filling a pre-established and tested questionnaire. Randomization was done with respect to the day of the week they suffered the injury. They were then followed up with specific appointments for 9days and the parameters of efficacy evaluated and compared among the randomly selected participants. Results were analyzed using the V9 SAS software analytical system and significance value was tested with p <0.05 and CHI square. Results: We registered a 8% (94/1045) injury prevalence, episiotomies and tears together. After 9 days follow up of the randomized groups, the efficacy (degree of healing, infections, pain) was similar in the different treatment groups although compliance was better in the antiseptic imbibed gauze group than the sitz bath group. Conclusion: Our results permitted us to conclude that the efficacies are comparable although the compliance was better with betadine gauze cleaning than Sitz bath. We recommend that a large scale with bigger sample size be carried out. While awaiting a broader scale that imbibed gauze cleaning of perineal injuries be used instead of Sitz bath as this will facilitate applicability and reduce perineal infections postpartum. Limitations: Chronic pathologies like diabetes that could influence healing wasn't screened Same category of patients can be found on similar days particular to a treatment choice Some patients didn't respond correctly due to literacy level.