Wound Care Question - possible surgery to restitch a wound
ok so I got stitches out on tuesday and since then the wound has reopened and become infected (stitches were in for almost 2 weeks)
I got my wound checked out at the drs clinic today and the guy I saw said I would need to get it restitched through day surgery at the local hospital...
this is really freaking me out as I have never had this done before and I just do not know what to think... like do I need to get it restitched and if I dont what may be the consequences of this other than a worse scar?
help!
sometimes being strong means not holding back the tears but letting them fall
~˙·٠•●♥Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙~
my fur baby girls are my life <3
r.i.p my beautiful girl jackie. i will love you always no matter what - 6/5/10
Im not sure what the consequences will be...maybe restiched and some antibiotics? Not sure but sending you some hugs and hoping it clears up fast. Love you lots xx
Did the guy in clinic not refer you to them? If he did, you should get an appointment, though it would be rare to have it restitched if it is infected. If you get an appointment, go along to it, you can ask all your questions then, and you can always say no once you have your answers.
Did the guy in clinic not refer you to them? If he did, you should get an appointment, though it would be rare to have it restitched if it is infected. If you get an appointment, go along to it, you can ask all your questions then, and you can always say no once you have your answers.
"It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit"
-J.R.R Tolkien
This has happened to me several times and doctors do not like to re-stitch a wound especially if there is infection in there because it just seals the bugs in and makes healing impossible.. Usually they will pack the wound with things like inadine packs or special medical packing materials sometimes with silver in them to attack the infection too, then they dress it and will leave it to heal over time with regular dressing changes with a nurse, it takes time to heal and it does leave a scar but it seems to be the more sensible option.
Have you not got a follow up appointment to see anyone?
The reason you'd have it done in theatre is purely because of the infection. They would remove all of the tissue that's around the edge at the moment and the iinfected tissue and clean it all up. They can't just stitch it back up as others have said due to the fact they'd be keeping an infection in which is bad news. Really, we can't say whether or not the wound definitely needs to be closed again if they get rid of the infection or if they can deal with the open wound, it depends what it's like and how deep it is when all the infected tissue is removed and any further damage.
The problems with not closing it is that there may actually be loss of some of he blood supply to that area now and therefore the antibiotics won't get to it and neither would the cells that help to clear up the infection whereas with surgery, all of this area would be removed and, the fact that it is taking so long to heal could be due to that or it may be because a small infection was brewing for much of that time. Also, if it's near a joint/ tendon these need to be dealt with really carefully so they'd probably want to explore the wound surgically to see how close the infected tissue gets to the joint/ certain parts of the tendons as these can cause a lot of damage if this is the case if these are left and the infection spreads into them. Really, we cannot give you an answer as we haven't seen the wound. The person you need to speak to is someone at the clinic you went to today to see what they think or ask on your day of surgery if they think it is neccesary but it is not something they'd suggest if they wouldn't think it were and there are the consequences like I've mentioned such as lack of blood supply to the edges and some of the infected material (meaning the infection could continue to grow and won't resolve) as well as risks to other parts of the anatomy becoming infected. They wouldn't just do it for cosmetic results and it may be due to the sheer size and the amount of fluid yo could be losing if you're oozing from it as really getting rid of the infected tissue is potentially a really good thing in itself as this may have gone too far to improve and recover. It may also be that they remove this and depending where it is they don't totally close it but put dressings in place and things which would have to be changed often but it is the sort of thing they may not be able to tell before surgery and they may also be looking at doing other things to get the defect to close. Really, ALL of these things will be mentioned the day of surgery and beforehand so I'd ask them as they are in a MUCH better place than we are to answer them as well as being professionals and know what the plan is.
thank you animad and everyone else for the invaluable information, I did not realise how serious this was until now.
I see my regular gp on tuesday and the dr I saw yesterday said that she would do the referal and that...
so I guess I wont know much until then...
this was a very big wake up call though and I am trying everything I can to not sh again... it is not worth the risk or longer term problems it may bring with it!
take care everyone
sometimes being strong means not holding back the tears but letting them fall
~˙·٠•●♥Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙~
my fur baby girls are my life <3
r.i.p my beautiful girl jackie. i will love you always no matter what - 6/5/10
Can you perhaps time them so you are doing something else when you take them. For example, when I struggle to take my pills, I put some good music on and when I get to a song I really love, I sing away to it, but tell myself, the pill has to be gone before the end of the song.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
You're welcome. I used to cut a lot a few years ago, so I can relate.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
I dont see the surgeon until 17th feb so wont have surgery till after that...
although my wound is starting to become infected again but I am not sure why... I have been keeping the wound covered and have been cleaning and redressing it regularly...
my gp put me back on anti biotics yesterday but I have not yet got the script filled... am hoping to do that this morning:/
so yeh... why has the infection come back?
sometimes being strong means not holding back the tears but letting them fall
~˙·٠•●♥Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙~
my fur baby girls are my life <3
r.i.p my beautiful girl jackie. i will love you always no matter what - 6/5/10
Some infections can be very potent in that they can live in conditions other infections wouldn't. Nonetheless keep on looking after it.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
Could be the way you have dressed your wound. You have to try to make the procedure sterile so it limits the chances of getting it infected again. Washing your hands before the procedure is a critical step that helps in preventing it from getting infected. Then, cleaning the wound in one direction if it's a cut to prevent like mixing between other places.
You can buy dressing packs+saline from the chemist with like tweezers which can help a bit, but might be expensive after a while tho, but maybe ur GP or the nurse that works there might be able to help a bit?
If the wound is on your arm and you only have one hand to dress it you need to ask someone else to do it. Could someone help you at home? If not I think you need to get a nurse to clean and dress it regularly, they can also be doing a wound check each time to keep an eye on infection/deterioration.
Also, Drs should be able to prescribe the right dressing packs and saline spray bottles, these are much less messy than saline capsules.. they spray the wound and involve less touching/hand contamination.
At home I clean a smooth surface [kitchen worktops usually] with dis-infectant spray and wash my hands, then open the packs and let the contents drop onto the surface, not touching them, then wash hands again. Then start cleaning wounds, then put all dirty stuff in bin, wash hands again and dress/bandage.