Help, blisters froam tape

Hi Konakona. I hope you're feeling well (blisters aside) after your major surgery. Were you instructed to go to the hospital to have your gauze changed? I had a BMX last June (no recon), and steri strips were also used on me. My surgeon instructed me to not change the gauze until after I shower which was 24 hours after my drains were removed. Five very long days. i was also instructed to let the steri strips fall off by themselves, which can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. However, you should definitely call your surgeon and tell him about the blisters. That sounds painful

Konakona, I'm sorry you're having trouble with tape. You should definitely talk to your surgeon's nurse (or whoever is changing your dressings) asap. I'm not clear if you're having trouble with the steristrips or with other tape used on your dressings.

At any rate, there are many different kinds of tape. And whoever's dressing your wound should have access to other types of tape. You'll find discussions of tape allergies and various alternate types of tape here (just search using the terms:

tape allergy

and you'll find them. If it's not the steristrips, you might even be able to use a tapeless dressing using a breast binder. (What I did when needing to redress my lumpectomy site up to 2x a day when doing radiation caused irritation.)

There are alternatives, and you shouldn't have to be suffering blisters,

Hope you feel much better very, very soon!

LisaAlissa

I had the same thing, allergic to surgical tape, they had to use paper tape. I always put that down on my medical forms allergic to surgical tape adhesive.

I suggest that you call your surgeon before your appointment on Wednesday. It may be overkill, but better to play it safe. Happy to hear you're feeling well otherwise

Check out the link Konakona, sometimes issues with irritant contact dermatitis result from chlorhexidine sensitivity as well as issues with adhesives. Good luck!

I was jollied on when I said I reacted to many medical adhesives, until they saw what happened when they ignored me. My suggestion is to have a photo of the skin reaction handy on your phone so you can show what happens. That seemed to cut out any argument or idea that I was exaggerating.

Yes, I have those photos of skin reactions in case anyone needs proof. Hope nobody gets my phone and starts browsing the photos. My skin has gotten more sensitive over the past year of taping the access needles for my port. I decided to start asking to have the peeled off backing so I will know what the product was if my skin reacts, as the nurses have lots of choices in their drawer.

Does the net look like wide tape, Konakona? Horse people call that stuff vet wrap. I'm glad they found a solution for you and that you are feeling better.

I am also sensitive to the adhesive, like SO many people. I got several large blisters around the drain sites from the tape they used in the hospital. I work in dermatology so we treat wounds like this a lot. Now you'll get lots of recommendations on how to treat the blisters so this is just one of many. I used polysporin OINTMENT (can also use mupiricin, bacitracin, aquaphor which I love, just stay away from neosporin) to coat the raw skin, then used a non stick telfa dressing to cover. The dressing will stick to the ointment (no adhesive needed) and then my bra held it all in place. Best of luck to you

Do check out an adhesive barrier. This is used all the time for people w/permanent feeding tubes or colostomies - and for all areas w/long term bandaging & to keep corrosive body fluids from touching the skin. They come in single use wipes (a bit smaller than single alcohol wipes). You or the nurse wipes this on the skin where the tape is to go. NOTE: Not the wound itself. Just the skin around. Let it dry a minute before applying the tape (or infusion pack, or...) I do this in addition to using Hypafix Tape. It really does protect the skin. Most hospitals have some kind of adhesive barrier. These are the two I have used:

Cavilon is one product by 3M usually available at some local drug stores

Aplicare if the other product apparently now available through Amazon

Kicks - I can't even tolerate a regular bandaid if I cut my arm, so even the clear patches that they used during infusion tore off the skin around my port w/o the liquid barrier first.

You're right - I'm grateful my docs told me about the barrier wipes since my skin seems to get more sensitive or fragile with age.

These are all great responses. Here's another take: Before my BMX, I told both my BS and my PS that I was allergic to tape, and that the skin underneath would turn bright red, then orange, then blister, then get crusty an painful for weeks.

Imagine my surprise when I had my first post-op appt and found that I had NO TAPE at all anywhere on my body.

They had put Xeriform and bandages wherever they needed to be, then wrapped me up tight in a giant Ace bandage. The PS says he always does it this way because so many women react to tape.

He said that in most cases, it's not a true allergy, but rather a case of the underlying tissues being SO swollen with fluid, and the top layer of skin is so fragile, that the adhesive pulls the layers of skin apart, creating a blistering effect.

So, happily, I missed out on my usual tape/adhesive disaster post surgery.

I just keep this photo on my phone for easy reference. It shows the welts from the tape (left on less than 24 hours) after my statement about tape was ignored at my port insertion surgery. Then I show my 8-month-old rectangular scar from the tape. This caused the word "severe" to be added to my chart.

Ja, that photo is right at the start of blistering. Fortunately my BMX dressings used no tape, and fortunately Steri-Strips don't seem to bother me.