6 days post hysterectomy: Steri strip removal

I had my abdominal surgery last Monday and I have my follow-up appointment on day 8 (this Tuesday). On day 7 (a week from surgery) I am supposed to remove the steri strips in the shower, if they haven't yet fallen off. None are even loose yet.

I'm nervous about removing them. Can I accidentally open up my wound? Do I need to be worried about that? Will it hurt? Will I bleed?

Please share your experiences.

When the strips get really wet, they should loosen up really nice and come off easily. No pain or bleeding should occur. Part of my incision opened up but I had a vertical and I could see a problem when the staples came out. You should be ok as you have holes. Some up a bandaid on after.

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Originally Posted by lncpia ... I am supposed to remove the steri strips in the shower, if they haven't yet fallen off. None are even loose yet. I'm nervous about removing them. ..

Most of mine fell off on their own, but the few that were hanging on had their ends coming up, and while in the shower I rubbed soap bubbles under the ends to gently cause the strips to come up.

Nothing opened and no bleeding occurred.

But if yours are down tight and you are nervous about accidentally pulling at the incisions, I'm sure the nurse would be happy to remove them for you at your visit.

My strips came loose on their own and they came off very easily. I wouldn't try removing them if they are still tight.

I was super worried about taking them off too! I had 5 incisions due to starting as a LVAH but then had a 9" horizontal incision. The strips loosened up enough on the small incisions so I just peeled them off in the shower. It's the big incision that was scary. I had staples so 4 days after surgery I went in and had them removed, they then put on steri strips. When I went back a week later for my 2 week check up the doctor said she was going to remove the steri strips which scared me. She pealed those babies off one at a time and it didn't hurt at all and everything was fine under there. I think it actually felt better without them.

If your doctor said remove them I'm sure it will be fine. I'm guessing your tummy is numb to the touch as mine is so you won't feel much at all. If it bothers you maybe you can ask DH or someone close to you to do it for you as I'm not sure I could have taken mine off myself.

Good luck!

Kayton, My abdomen is numb to the touch in many places, so maybe it won't be too bad pulling them off. Is that normal to have places feeling numb?

Thanks everyone for your replies. Thanks for helping me feel better about the concept of removing the steri strips. Since water and soap seemed to help y'all loosen them I wonder if it would help to put a hot wet washcloth on my incision for a while before taking the shower to remove them.

Maybe warm, not hot. And yes it's normal with the abdominal incision for your stomach to be numb, it's from cutting through the nerves. I didn't even realize it until my doctor touched it when she went to take out the staples.

Good luck on the removal, let us know how you do.

I am 19 days post op, I had my 30 staples (9" vertical) removed after one week and they then placed steri strips and said they will fall off in about 2 weeks...they are still on and seem to be fine. My incision was pretty long and I will just let them fall off on their own (probably this week).

My doc said just let them fall off. Mine never did so I took them off after 4 weeks

Thanks for all the great support ladies!

I waited an extra day and removed the steri strips this morning in the shower. I rubbed the edges with lots of soapy water and that loosened the glue. Then I lightly pulled up on each end of each one to loosen them until near the incision. Then I started at the bottom strip and lightly pulled near the incision upwards (I have a vertical incision) along the incision line so as not to open the wound. Did them one at a time. Took a little while since I went slowly. It didn't hurt, and nothing opened up. I then lightly scrubbed along the sides of the incision where the glue had been to get any residue off. The doctor told me this afternoon that the wound looks good.

So hopefully this small report will help anyone else who was told to remove these before they look like they might fall off on their own.