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Before the surgery, your doctor may:

• Do a physical exam and review your medical history
• Perform blood and imaging tests
• Talk to you about any medicines, herbs, and dietary supplements you may be taking—You may be asked to stop taking some medicines up to one week before the procedure, like:
  • Aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs
  • Blood thinners (eg, warfarin , clopidogrel )

Before the surgery:

• Arrange for a ride to and from the hospital.
• The night before surgery, do not eat or drink after midnight.

General anesthesia will be used. It will block any pain and keep you asleep through the surgery.

A nurse will insert an IV into your arm. This will deliver antibiotics. Your pubic hair will be removed. The nurse will also insert a catheter to drain urine from your bladder.

There are several types of vulvectomy surgery. The type you will have depends on what parts of the vulva and nearby tissue have been affected by cancer or abnormal skin. Examples include:

• Skinning vulvectomy—removes the top layer of skin
• Simple vulvectomy—removes multiple layers of skin and tissue
• Partial vulvectomy—removes a part of the vulva, as well as some nearby tissue and lymph nodes
• Radical vulvectomy—removes the entire vulva, including nearby tissue and lymph nodes

Once all affected areas have been removed, the doctor may need to reconstruct the vulva. If only a small amount of skin was removed, she may be able to stitch the remaining skin together. Sometimes, a skin graft is needed. Temporary drains may be inserted to remove extra fluids from the incision area.

About 1-2 hours

Anesthesia prevents pain during surgery. Your doctor will give you pain medicine after surgery.

The hospital stay depends on the type of surgery. You may go home the same day or up to a few days after. If you had any problems, you will need to stay longer.