POST-OP (surgical) questions and feeback please!

[mafibisha]

Can anyone (medical professionals or anyone!) comment on this? There aren't too many people available on a wet, winter, saturday night! Hoping someone on the DIS can please offer feedback.

When observing a small wound a few days post op, (around a few external and several internal stitches) they tell you to look for swelling, redness, hot to the touch, oozing (for lack of the right word) ect.

1) So, what exactly is red? Is this red, the only cause for concern, and is a little lighter than this pinkness considered normal because its a new surgical wound?

2) And swelling. How long should a little swelling around the site be considered normal, as a result of the incision?

3) Itching. Is intermittent itching part of the healing process? Or cause for alarm?

4) Fever. If there is NO fever, does that mean there is no infection? Or can there be an infection without an elevated temperature?

Ok ok, i totally know these are W I D E opened questions, and only an eyeball diagnosis can answer definitively. But I would greatly appreciate ANY type of feedback regardless.

Thanks so much for any feedback you'd care to offer.

 

[Feralpeg]

Any new wound will appear a little red for some time. Itching is also pretty common during the healing process. If the redness starts to move out away from the wound very much, that would be the time to contact your doctor.

 

[OceanAnnie]

i totally know these are W I D E opened questions, and only an eyeball diagnosis can answer definitively. But I would greatly appreciate ANY type of feedback regardless.

Ok. Keeping the above qualifier in mind (about the eyeball dx being best), I'll jump in.

1.) A little redness is not necessarily bad. It may be tissue granulating (regenerating). Does it look "angry", or in other words is there redness beyond the surgical incision? That would be a red flag.

2.) Swelling I guess would depend on what type of surgery you had. In general swelling starts to subside in a few days.

3.) Itching is "normal" just around the incision site. It's your body's response to tissue regenerating. Actually some people have it some don't. But it isn't a cause for concern.

4.) Fever is an indication of infection. But absence of fever doesn't necessarily mean you don't have an infection. You could have an infection at the surgical site without a fever.

Generally, if the wound is hot to touch or warm it's a red flag. If there is drainage that has a color to it (not clear) that is also a cause for concern.

ETA- I'm not a doctor but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

[Judy from Boise]

A little inflamation at the incision can just be a sign of a nice brisk immune system. I would worry if it started draining frank red blood of anything that looks like pus, or if the red edges become red streaks.
Just eat a nice high protien diet with plenty of VitC and zinc, and you will heal up in no time!

 

[dmslush]

dd fell down the stairs a couple of years back and broke a dish in the process. She ended up with 87 stitches. It did bruise, was real red, and was slightly swollen. The scars are actually still faintly purple at this time. She was on antibiotics the entire time because she was cut with a dish, fell down the stairs and hit every stair going down. She never ran a fever though.

 

[Living with the Land]

Keep in mind too that everyone is different. I had a dental surgery that they said would be pretty much back to normal in 10 days (internal and external stitches). Anyway, I was out of commission for 2 weeks and in a good amount of pain for a month with no infection. It really depends on your body.

Holly

 

[mafibisha]

ETA- I'm not a doctor but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

LOL Annie!

Thank you annie, and thanks to EVERYONE for your posts. I feel so much better now. Its tough when you're the patient, and you know just enough about medicine to second guess everything. I'll sleep better now!

Thanks again, you guys are the best!!

dmslush - wow, 87 stitches, your poor dd!