leakage and open incision

Hello all- at the top of the my incision it has opened a bit and seems now to be a bit bigger. I also have leakage from this hole. Surgeon said on Friday that it had to drain and it was okay, but now I think it is not okay. Anyone have anything like this happen?? I have a call into my family dr

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Originally Posted by bvdt Hello all- at the top of the my incision it has opened a bit and seems now to be a bit bigger. I also have leakage from this hole. Surgeon said on Friday that it had to drain and it was okay, but now I think it is not okay. Anyone have anything like this happen?? I have a call into my family dr

Sometimes there is fluid trapped behind the incision and your surgeon is correct in saying that it needs to come out - if it stayed there, you would actually have a higher risk of infection developing. Just make sure that there is not increased pain, redness or change in color to what is coming out. By all means certainly speak with your doctor and see him as well, but wanted to reassure you as I work in General Surgery and see this quite often.....

I have a leakage at the bottom of my incision. It has to now heal from the inside out, if that doesn't sound creepy enough. I am assured it is completely normal and I have kept an eagle eye on it for any signs of infection. Check your temp often and keep sterile gauze on the opening to catch the drainage if you need to do so. I know it's enough to freak you out, trust me!

Just came to this site to see if there was any information about this, as I am going through a similiar experience. I had a SAH two weeks ago. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with the sheets and pajamas wet with a clear, very runny, liquidy reddish fluid flowing out of a tiny part of my incision, near an area that had been red and blistery lloking, but was deemed by my surgeon not to be an infection on Monday morning. I put pressure and a bandage on it, but whenever I moved, it kept flowing. My husband had an appointment with our PCP early this morning, so he convinced me to come along. I went thinking that he might stich or steri-strip it quickly. My PCP checked it over and said it was a seroma and was nothing to be overly concerned with at this point, as it was not infected, merely bodily fluids mixed with blood that collect under the incision and need to come out. He told me to keep it bandaged and that it might continue to leak out for a week or so. Of course, he said to watch for worsening symptoms and to call the surgeon's office if it seemed any worse. When I got home, I called the surgeon's office to tell her what had happened and what my PCP had said. My surgeon was out of town, but the nurse and the oncall doctor said I should come in to the hospital (about an hour away) and have it looked at. They said they might need to open it up more and put in a drain or pack it with gauze, etc. They also said that it could lead to a more serious infection or absess. Well, I really didn't want to make the trip and had just been reassured by my PCP that it wasn't serious, so I decided not to go in today. I convinced the nurse and the other doctor to let me keep an eye on it for another day, so I will see how things are in the morning. The fluid is still coming out, but nothing has changed for the worse. I did look it up on the internet and found that it can happen after surgery and that it doesn't seem to be serious, but I will definitely watch it. I suggest you definitely check with your doctors, but at least I thought you would want to know that I am experiencing the same thing and I am believing at this point that it is not anything serious.

Hang in there!
Lori

I had the exact same thing happen and got the same report from my gynocologist as Lori did. After mine drained it actually felt better. It stoped for a week and I thought it was healing but it did it again and thats when I went to the doctors! Keep it clean and watch for signs of infection.

My incision was stapled, and I noticed some leaking similar to yours, at about one week after surgery. I was concerned, so I called the doctor's office, and they told me to keep and eye on it, and if it became red and painful, and with heat, to come in, but otherwise, to wait till my appointment for 10 days after surgery to come in and get the staples removed. When I went in at 10 days, and got the staples removed, there was fluid and the incision was open at the bottom. The nurse packed it with sterile gauze, and put me on some antibiotics. I had to have it packed twice a day, for over a month. I had to rely on my neighbor (bless her heart) to come over and pack it for me, as I couldn't do it myself, until it started healing more, from the inside. Finally, I could do it myself. At first, it tunneled up under the incision, and it was not easy to get the gauze packed up in there correctly, so it wouldn't close back over, and fill back up again. It took a little time, in my case, but it did heal up. From talking to others, this can happen a lot with wounds.
I wish you quick and easy healing!

I am going through the exact same thing. My incision was red & a reddish fluid was coming out. I went to my gyno who said I had a abscessed stitch under the skin. He said as long as it was draining on it's own I wouldn't need any meds. The redness is getting smaller as it drains. I'm not worried anymore.

Hope yours gets better,
Jody