Why Is My C-section Scar Itchy?

C-section scars often feel itchy as your skin and nerves heal. During a C-section, your doctor cuts through cutaneous nerves in your skin. These nerves are responsible for sending your brain sensory information—like if something feels hot, cold, or tight on your skin. As the cutaneous nerves heal, they can become itchy. Many women also experience sensitive or numb skin around their surgical area.  

The good news? While uncomfortable, an itchy incision is often a sign that these damaged nerves are growing and healing! Even better news? You can start doing nerve desensitization to speed up the nerve healing process and stop the itching sooner. 

How can I stop my C-section scar from itching?

Nerve desensitization—aka scar tissue desensitization—helps reduce sensitivity and restore sensation to the skin around your C-section scar. It also helps stop C-section itching! Stimulating your incision and increasing awareness to the area assists the cutaneous nerves’ healing process. The faster the nerves grow back and heal, the quicker your skin will feel normal again.  

How to get started: All you need are fabrics from around your house with varying textures ranging from soft to rough. For example, you could use cotton, silk, felt, and something rough like a paper towel or low-grit sandpaper. Expecting and Empowered also has a C-Section Recovery Box that includes everything you need to build a C-section desensitization kit.

When to do it: One week after your C-section, we recommend doing nerve desensitization once or twice a day. You should continue daily until normal sensation returns. Try desensitizing your C-section scar while you nurse or feed your baby. I loved to keep my textures by the nursing supplies for easy access while feeding. You can also do it at the end of the night while reading in bed or watching TV.

How to do it: Use any fabric to rub the skin around your incision area for about 1 minute (a softer texture might be easier at first). Repeat the process with your different fabrics, moving from softer to rougher textures. Desensitizing your incision might feel odd at first, and that’s OK! That strange sensation means you’re irritating the nerve, which is what we want to do to help encourage healing. After 4 weeks postpartum, you can use the fabrics to move over the scar itself—repeating the same process with your different textures. 

Why does my C-section scar itch later on?

An itchy C-section scar can be problematic if someone stays in the healing phase for too long. Over time, inflammation around your C-section incision can cause scar tissue buildup that leads to pain, itching, and future pregnancy complications. In addition to nerve desensitization, scar mobilization can help improve scar healing. Scar tissue mobilization also helps soften and flatten your C-section scar.

SOURCES

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2022). Cesarean birth. https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/cesarean-birth 

Gilbert I, et al. (2022). Exploring the effects of standardized soft tissue mobilization on the viscoelastic properties, pressure pain thresholds, and tactile pressure thresholds of the cesarean section scar. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35426735/ 

Glatte P, et al. (2019). Architecture of the cutaneous autonomic nervous system. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2019.00970/full