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Difficulty Urinating After Surgery?

Hi. I am a 20 year old male that had surgery completed about 12 hours ago under general anesthesia. Ever since I have been home it has been difficult, but not painful for me to urinate. I have to sit down and it can take 5 minutes before anything comes out. Is that a cause for concern?

Doctor Answers 2

Difficulty Urinating After Surgery?

January 13th, 2014
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It is not uncommon to have some difficulty urinating after surgery, especially if the surgery was more than a couple of hours and even more common when a catheter had been placed in your bladder during the time of the surgery.

Garrett A. Wirth, MD, FACS
January 13th, 2014

Difficulty Urinating After Surgery?

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It is not uncommon to have some difficulty urinating after surgery, especially if the surgery was more than a couple of hours and even more common when a catheter had been placed in your bladder during the time of the surgery.

Garrett A. Wirth, MD, FACS

Difficulty Urinating After Surgery?

May 13th, 2013
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Greetings, thanks for your questions, usually when general anesthesia is used and in any  surgery of  more than 3 hours in length,  a tube or urinary catheter is placed in the urinary meatus  to collect and measure the  urine output during surgery ( I do not know if this is your case), the mere fact of placing the catheter can irritate the urethra produce some  urinating difficulty , this feeling usually disappears with the passage of days, antibiotics are useful in the case of urethritis

Jose Luis Acosta Collado, MD

Jose Luis Acosta Collado, MD
Dominican Republic Plastic Surgeon
5.0 out of 5 stars 29 reviews

May 13th, 2013

Difficulty Urinating After Surgery?

{{ voteCount >= 0 ? '+' + (voteCount + 1) : (voteCount + 1) }}

Greetings, thanks for your questions, usually when general anesthesia is used and in any  surgery of  more than 3 hours in length,  a tube or urinary catheter is placed in the urinary meatus  to collect and measure the  urine output during surgery ( I do not know if this is your case), the mere fact of placing the catheter can irritate the urethra produce some  urinating difficulty , this feeling usually disappears with the passage of days, antibiotics are useful in the case of urethritis

Jose Luis Acosta Collado, MD
Dominican Republic Plastic Surgeon

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These answers are for educational purposes and should not be relied upon as a substitute for medical advice you may receive from your physician. If you have a medical emergency, please call 911. These answers do not constitute or initiate a patient/doctor relationship.