TAH Adhesive issues! What should I do to remove sticky residue?

I have an incision infection with the dressing being changed 2x a day -- I'm at the point where it feels like my skin is peeling away when ever the surgical tape holding the dressing gets removed, and I have all this sticky residue that I can't seem to clean off.

Does anyone know of a way to keep a dressing in place on a bikini-line incision without tape? Or of a good way to clean the sticky stuff off gently?

Thank you!!

My Dr. removed the dressing in the hospital and told me after my shower to use a blow dryer on it on the cool setting and then use baby powder. My incision was glued with seristips.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear -- it's a dressing made out of gauze pads that's covering a place where my doctor re-opened my incision and put drainage material in. The packing material and gauze pads are what get changed 2x a day.

They have non adhesive bandages I found by curad for people that have allergies to adhesives. I had the same thing and found a big bandaid to keep the dressing on, and it comes off easier than tape or adhesive bandaids. Hope that helps

OH sorry I never had drainage material! Just the original incision.

maybe nail polish remover would take it off?

I was able to tuck the dressing over the incision right under my lovely belly flap...the flap of skin held the dressing in place nicely, as long as I was not too active....

I too had an infection that was open and had to be changed twice a day and my skin felt like it was on fire when we would remove the tape...I just started not using any tape and trying to be real still....it worked...

I also have very sensitive skin and found that a bit of baby oil on a cotton pad removes the adhesive residue without irritating the skin. Just be sure to clean off the baby oil before you re-tape, I either use antibacterial cleanser on a wash cloth (and rinse with a clean cloth) or hydrogen peroxide on a cotton pad and then lightly blow dry the area before I retape.

I have a hand-held shower head so I gently rinse the area every morning until the adhesive tape gets soaked (I'm keeping tape strips on the entire incision, no gauze). Then when I get out of the shower I am able to peel off the tape more easily so I can apply fresh tape (and use the before-mentioned tips as needed).

To help ease some of the irritation you are experiencing, perhaps you can use the shower technique once a day to help make the removal easier.

Happy healing!