impact of hypericum perforatum ointment on perineal pain intensity following episiotomy: a randomized placebo-controlled trial

Introduction: the present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of hypericum perforatum ointment on perineal pain intensity following episiotomy among primiparous women. methods: this triple-blind clinical trial was performed on 98 eligible primiparous women referring to selected educational hospital of tehran university of medical sciences for normal vaginal delivery. block randomization (in 1; 1 ratio) was used to categorize the participants continuously into two groups: intervention (using hypericum perforatum ointment) and control (using placebo ointment). participants in each group used ointments (about 3 grams each time) on episiotomy site, twice a day and for a period of ten days. our primary outcome was the pain intensity in different intervals following episiotomy. the data were analyzed by spss software (version 13) using student's t-test, mann-whitney u test and chi-square test. results: we missed 14 participants during the study and analyzed the data from 42 participants in each group. the mean of pain scores revealed no significant differences before (mean difference=-0.33; p=0.46) and four hours (mean difference=0.57; p=0.13) after ointments use, between the intervention and control groups, while these differences were significant after eight hours (mean difference=2.17; p<0.001), five days (mean difference=2.20; p<0.001) and ten days (mean difference=2.21; p<0.001) following the intervention. conclusion: using hypericum perforatum ointment as a noninvasive, simple and effective topical formulation, can significantly reduce pain intensity of episiotomy site.