Reaction to steri-strips?

I had an LSH procedure on the 11th, with four incisions. I have steristrips over each incision and most are looking great. However, I ended up with quite a reaction to one of the steristrips....not at the incision itself, but at each end of the strip. I have two really angry, red blisters. I hadn`t initally noticed it, but as soon as I did I trimmed the steristrip back away from the blisters. So there is still a small piece over my incision, with no reaction, and then these two AWFUL blisters. The blisters are bugging me more than any of the incisions.

I am putting Polysporin on it for now, and if it gets worse I`ll call the hospital. In the meantime, does anyone have any tips or suggestions? Much appreciated!

I'm sorry I don't have any suggestions for you but hope you can get some relief from that. Can you remove the steri-strips or is that what is used in place of stitches? My vertical incision is stitched and then has white tape on top of it and the tape is bothering me a bit but no blisters.

Thanks skeeter - yes, the strips are in place of stitches and they eventually come off in the shower. It's a little soon to pull them off completely but when I trimmed the one away from the blisters, the blisters haven't gotten any worse (or better).

I did search the post op threads tho and found some others who had similar problems and I guess once we've had this reaction we need to notify hospitals in the future and they use an alternate suture.

So I'll just keep trying the Polysporin and hope the blisters get better.

Thanks again for your reply.

My doctor told me to clean the spot 3 times a day with hydrogen peroxide and apply triple antibotic cream.

Re: Reaction to steri-strips

I am now on day 6 since my surgery and I had staples but they were re
moved on before I left the hospital and replaced with steri-strips. The doctor told me I could remove them over the weekend so I took them off yesterday because they were making me itchy and pulling on my pubic hair that was starting to grow back. Today I woke up with large red bumps which are very itchy and sore. I'm not sure what to use to help this as I have 2 holes on each side of me. One is from a drainage tube the other from the cath. One of the holes is not quite sealed as it is still oozey. I have been using sanitary napkins as bandaids which work great but I need to stop the itching as its driving me crazy and getting sore from scratching it.
Its good to know that I'm not the only one going through this. So after reading your post maybe I will try polysporin although it won't help the itching.

Polysporin may help the itching too. I hope you guys can get some relief.

I went into the hospital knowing from past experience that I was unable to have any type of bandaid or tape used on me as I have the same reaction to them. I also have a latex allergy. I was bitten by a spider a few years back and the doctor put me on medicine for it and told me to keep it covered. I had put a bandaid on it and when I took it off it took skin and all with it. I kept antibiotic cream on it until it healed. The doctors have been able to find alternatives to work around it. It is apparently something in the adhesive that I have the problem with. I did not always have this problem it just appeared one day. I now let the doctor's office know everytime, even a simple blood draw is an issue for me, they always want to place a bandaid over the place they draw the blood and I just cannot have that done.

Lily

Thanks for the posts everyone.

dedmurphy, thanks for that - when you say your "spot", do you mean that you had the same kind of reaction? I have just been using the regular Polysporin so far because I had it on hand, and I hadn't thought about the hydrogen peroxide.

Shordass, I'm really sorry to hear you have this same thing going on, it's awful. I have been putting Polysporin on and giving them as much air as possible, and it seems to be working. As skeeter says, the Polysporin has been helping with the itching. The blisters/bumps aren't hurting or itching nearly as much and they have gone from deep red to blackish, and no sign of getting worse. I wish you luck!

Lily, thanks for sharing that! Crazy where simple things can lead sometimes, all the more reason for us to be careful with these sores, especially when they are near our incisions.

i also am allergic to any type of adhesive, so i pull off all bandaids, tapes, steri strips as soon as i leave the hospital... otherwise i get a rash and blisters...

Fire, yes the spot, my navel, was red and had little blisters.