HERNIA OR BULGING AFTER DIEP SURGERY

Thanks for the support!

I was surprised by the drain also.  PS said it works better if you have one for a couple of days.  I forgot how wonderful they can be...a bit of sarcasm.

Hello, I had my surgery in 2010, I first developed a bulge on my left and had surgery and a mesh was placed in that area.  It feels better but when you look at both sides you could still see a bulge there.  I now have a bulge on my right.  The plastic surgeon said it is just fat that I have gained weight.  Though it bothers me. I feel a pulling and burning sensation.  It doesn't feel normal at all. I am not sure what it is and my concern is what if it gets bigger.    I wanted to reach out to women like myself who have had this surgery.  Your posting was very informative.  I just don't know what kind of Dr. I should see.  I was wondering if I should see another plastic surgeon or a hernia Dr.  I would appreciate anyone's feed back.  Thank you!!

Just this week I had a Consult with Dr Denoto on Long Island. Despite an Ultrasound that the VA paid for yet out-sourced and a CT Scan done at my VA Hospital, reports said there was no problem. The surgery for a Diep which became a Free Form Tram Flap or Muscle Sparing Tram Flap was done July 2012. After full recovery, I'd always thought there was a slight bulge. Over the past few years it's gotten more pronounced. At times it stops me in my tracks when getting up in certain positions - not something I can re-create at will. I also saw Dr Israeli, a Plastic Surgeon that works often with Dr Denoto. Even he could tell from physical exam and viewing the images of the ct scan disc that there was a hernia. Dr Denoto showed me on the images where there is right lower abdominal weakness and the highly suspected Inguinal Hernia. He wouldn't know until inside during a surgery if it was an Incisional one instead or in addition.

I have to say...I'd never hesitate to allow either one of those fine Surgeons to work on me! Dr Denoto is at the top of his game in terms of complicated hernia repairs, specifically those after Abdominal Flap procedures for BC reconstruction.

I had a bulge below my DIEP stomach incision on my right side and a few others along the incision. He recised the full incision and took out the lumps and sent them to pathology. He also fixed the dog ears. He doesn't know what the larger one was, but the 2 smaller ones were necrotic tissue. There was a huge seroma over 17 cm that was encapsulated, just above the incision on the center and right side, he also cut that out, too. He did all this during stage 2, a couple days ago. So no answer yet on the pathology of the larger bulge.