Rejection of sutures

Mememee

I am in week 5 of recovery from A bilateral mastectomy and DIEP flap reconstruction. The surgery went well without much complication. My problem is my body having allergic reactions to the suture. First, on the new breast tissue that will become my nipple, I have a blistering rash. This is postponing a second surgery to clear my margins.

On Sat, my stomach incision started pushing out metal sutures. A hole opened up in the middle part of the incision, 3 suture were removed by my PS. There is a lot of yellow fluid pouring out so I went to my dermatologist. She could see other sutures pushing out, she wouldn’t touch them, it could lead to the entire incision open up. This morning, my hole is has heavy bleeding now.

Anyone else have similar problems with their body pushing out metal sutures,fluid and bleeding? How long did it take for you to heal? Any suggestions on managing the wound?

Thanks.

Luckynumber47

I am so sorry you are still battling this and it seems to be getting worse. Are your dr's ignoring you or do they have a treatment plan? Can they refer you to someone who specializes in allergic reactions? It seems like it would be too easy for this to lead to infection.

I'd be pounding on doors until I found someone with skill in treating this. It sounds like it might be over your PSs head.

Sending hugs,

Lucky.

Mememee

Things are not getting better right now. My dermatologist was able to confirm that i have an infection in my stomach incision and belly button. She put me on Cypro for a week plus gave me an antibacterial cream for the oozing incision. I sent a text to PS to let him know of my bleeding and suture issue. He called me tonight and wants me to come in and see him tomorrow. Even though things feel really bad right now, all of my Dr are in touch and engaged. Also my GP sent me an email to see how i am doing with the dermatologist.Now I just need things to move back to healing path. Thanks for checking.

Luckynumber47

Here's a link to one of the posts about allergic reactions to the clips used in surgery. You might pm weshallsee to see what all she did and how she feels now.

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/83/topics/813169?page=1#post_4443888

Many of the posts I read talked about eliminating foods high in nickel, not wearing jewelry, even metal buttons, anything to reduce reactions

Glad the drs are staying on top of this. Hopefully you'll keep healing so you can get those margins taken care of.

Mememee

my breast rash is finally gone! My stomach incision issue turned into an abscess. My PS removed the abscess and He showed my hubby how to clean and pack it. The expression on his face was priceless, he isn’t very good with blood and wounds. On antibiotics plus the PS did another culture on the wound. I go back Tuesday to see PS again. Nurse hubby did a good job putting in new gauze into wound hole tonight. Thanks for the link, going to read it now.