Ouch - my belly button hurts!

LSH 6/29 fibroids
Things have been slowly progressing with no real complaints - but my belly button has always had a sticky spot since the surgical glue came off - nothing really note worthy or worth complaining about - I just thought it was part of the healing process. A couple of days ago I noticed it getting sore - thought it was just due to riding in the car and my pants rubbing on it. Last night, it looked swollen around the top and has a knot above it. I started treating it like wound - but there is no apparent wound - just sort of pink. Anyone experienced similar?

Kat

I have not had the swelling, but about a week ago, it started to feel bruised. I realized that the I had been wearing normal clothes all day morning to night and the shorts that I had been wearing, the drawstring hit my belly button. I have taken to wearing skirts with buttons on the side and dresses, and that has helped. If I do have to wear normal clothes, I take them off as soon as I am home and put on my nightgown. That way, I am minimizing the pressure on my belly button. I also just realized at this moment, that my laptop tends to end up resting in that area. I will have to be more careful with that as well.

I have had the exact same belly-button issue this week. I haven't been concerned enough to call the MD since it wasn't a lot of blood, and some hydrogen peroxide seemed to help. I'll let you know if I learn anything else about it, but in the meantime, I wanted to let you know that you're not alone on this one. Take care!

I had the samething happen to me , I treated it with peroxide with a q-tip. Then after showers and/or baths I used the blow dryer on low cool setting just to make sure to get it completly dry, then with another q-tip applied antibiotic ointment. After a couple of days it seemed better.

Oh ! I am having the same trouble. I LOVE the cool setting blow dryer idea. I will try it today. Thanks!

Update: I ended up with an infection - the thing broke open and drained. Lovely. I went to the doctor who was not that concerned about it and put me on antibiotics. A couple of weeks later, the pants rubbed it again and the infection looked like it was returning - the hole reopened and started draining again. Upon closer examination, I noticed that there was something sticking out of the little hole. The "dissolvable" stitches didn't dissolve. I pulled it out and have not had any problems since. I am so thankful that I only had one stitch inside!!

Oh no! I also have a stich that i can see sticking out of my belly button and one sticking out of my belly incision. Hmm. I will continue to keep them clean and dry until I see my Dr. on Friday.

enibas38,
Since you are only 9 days post-op, it is probably a good thing they are still there! I don't know if they would have had time to dissolve yet. They should soon.

I was around 19 days when I started having problems. I finally pulled mine out at around 4/5 weeks. (That is when they started sticking through a small hole that opened in my belly button.) (Ugh!)

Don't ignore those stitches sticking out ladies. I had a stitch that sticked out of my incision when I had my ovary out. I let it go, just kept it cleaned, etc..... or at lest what I thought was cleaned. Well I ended up with a bright red hot patch around the incision, puss and the incision busting open. Apparently I had an incision that didn't dissolve and bacteria ended up following this into my incision giving me MRSA. I don't want to scare anyone - it was found quickly and treated with antibiotics and it healed up pretty good. Just want to let you know that it should be looked at by a dr and trimmed down with sterile surgical scissors by a professional. Take extra care.