What does hardening beside incision mean?

I read in one of the posts a list of things to be concerned about concerining incisions. One of the concerns was if you had hardening beside the incision. My incision has been open since last Thursday,(after Dr. had removed the remaining staples- came open at home about the width and length of a dime) there has been hardening around it since even before it opened up. What does the hardening signal? Infection? Hemotoma? My Doc is not the most helpful- so I don't look forward to "bothering" him with something insignificant - but am curious what hardening signifies.

In the hardening area there is a whitish spot that is also hard. It kind of looks like your skin would look after being slightly frostbitten. I'll just tell you up front - I really don't have a comfort level with my doc - so I'm not going to run right away to his office - unless I suspect something dangerous. I was on antibiotic (bactrim) for a UTI - that I just finished this a.m. I'm not running a fever - as of now, and the rest of my incision itches slightly, like it would if it were healing.

Kathy

I know you don't want to run to the doc, but the incision being open is not a good thing.

The top of my incision opened at week 4 and all hell broke loose. Please call the doc.

You should call your doctor because your incision opened..it is not supposed to do that. You could be creating more problems by leaving it unattended too.
Stop worrying about your doctor and please take care of you.