Infection - help! painful infection - urgent advice needed.

babii.blu.eyes. · 24-07-2009, 06:24 AM

i had stitches a week and a bit ago.
i had them out yesterday.
and the dr said there was an infection in one of the points where the stitch went in..
she put steri strips on it and said to not get it wet and come back next wk..
however!..
the next morning (this morning) i woke up and one of the steri strips was coming off..
so i peeled it back..big mistake..
on either side of the cut..where the stitches had been..puss started oozing out..
it just kept coming..scary..
and then i got a tissue to clean it off..
and as soon as i pressed down..
a hole like..erupted..in the scar in the middle and more puss started coming out..
i took the rest of the steri strips off to clean the whole thing..
and in 5 more 'sections' where the stitches went in..and 1 more in the actual scar puss started coming out of those too..
the dr is away and the nearest a&e is 45min away..
my mom doesnt think i need to go..
i covered it with more steri strips..but it keeps like..
leeking puss..
im scared and worried..
and it REALLY hurts..
help.

Aidee · 24-07-2009, 10:00 AM

Can you see someone else at your doctors office? It sounds like the wound is infected inside it, and it needs to be cleaned out properly, possibly restitched, and you need antibiotics.

Animad · 24-07-2009, 10:53 AM

Yeh, as Aidey says, it does need to be checked out. In the meantime I'd be inclined to say take the strips off so it remains open and treat it as an open wound with a dressing on as said in the Wound Care Guide.

Leaving it open (rather than steri-stripped) until you get it checked out will allow the pus to continue to drain which is a good thing and reduce the risks of it spreading into your bloodstream which is the major risk. But it definately needs to be checked out again

88shelz · 24-07-2009, 02:05 PM

sounds nasty. as said though you need to see a doctor.
i have had some nasty infections and now my arm is a bigger mess than it should have been xxxx

lozza · 25-07-2009, 12:36 AM

have you managed to get it checked out hun??
I hope you are ok

babii.blu.eyes. · 25-07-2009, 12:13 PM

hey..
this morning i woke up and took the dressing i put on it off..
and the red had gone down..
there was no puss..
and it looked ALMOST normal..
it still hurts a little bit though..
its really weird..
kinda freaks me out..
thanks for the advice.

Animad · 26-07-2009, 09:08 AM

If I was you I'd still want to get it checked out just to ensure that it doesn't still need anything. What may have happened is that you drained all the puss off it, and that has took the pressure off the area for a bit and so has 'calmed' it down a bit.