Seroma(s)

Hi dogsmom, I had a seroma from mastectomy that required manually draining four times. It had to be done by syringe by radiologist ( to make sure the syringe was in the right place ). You may want to get a referral to a radiographer to confirm it is a seroma and medical opinion for best treatment. A small seroma can be absorbed but I believe larger ones need to be drained.

Good luck.

Helen

Hi Dogmomrunner,

I also have a seroma or a hematoma at the incision site which is pretty much directly under my armpit. I am 6 months out from surgery and almost 4 months out from radiation, and it has not gone down at all. It has been the same size since shortly after my surgery. My surgeon did not want to drain it before radiation bc he said they have a tendency to come back anyway, that they usually go down during radiation (mine didn't) and because he felt I would have more caving in at the lumpectomy site than if I let it reabsorb on its own. I guess it also has a slight risk for infection. However, it is starting to cause me a little bit of discomfort, I'm getting tired of feeling it rubbing against the inside of my arm all day long, and my breast and armpit are still slightly swollen overall which affects how bras fit. My concern is that I read that having a seroma or hematoma increases the risk of developing lymphedema, not to mention that I'm pretty sure it's going to make my mammogram rather uncomfortable. I actually have my mammogram and 6 mo follow up with the surgeon tomorrow, so I am going to inquire about whether it is time to consider having it drained or if there are any other steps I can take to help it go down. I will post a follow up to let you know what he says.

As promised, I am posting a follow up after having my mammogram and meeting with the breast surgeon today. The seroma showed on the mammogram and the surgeon could definitely feel it when he examined me. He wasn't concerned about it and said pretty much what he said before I started radiation- that if he drained it, I would be more likely to be misshapen from that spot caving in because of where it is. He also said draining it carries a slight risk of infection. I decided to give it a little more time to see if it will resolve on its own. He did agree that there is overall swelling in the breast but thinks it is some very mild breast lymphedema (ugh!) from radiation, so I will be keeping my appointment for a consult with the le therapist next week. If she can get the swelling of the breast to go down, perhaps the seroma won't bother me as much. However, I also have in my mind as of now, that if after approximately another month there is no improvement, then I will go back and have it drained. If the therapist believes that having it drained will help the lymphedema swelling resolve, then I will go back even sooner to have it drained. So I have to ask myself, will draining the seroma help the lymphedema resolve, or will getting the lymphedema to resolve make the seroma more bearable to live with?

My questions for anyone else are-

1. Has anyone else who had a seroma drained experienced any caving in at the site? I know that the breast can continue to shrink for quite some time after radiation, and even though mine hasn't shrunk yet since it is still swollen, I'm thinking that a shrunken breast with a huge dent in it will make finding a bra that fits even more difficult than my slightly swollen one currently does.

2. Has anyone else had swelling after radiation that lasted more than 3 months but eventually went down? Most of what I have read on the radiation thread is that the breast is shrinking by then. and my radiation oncologist told me that normal swelling from radiation should be gone by now. I just dread the thought of having to wear compression bras if the le therapist recommends them. I teach on the second floor of a brick school building that is not air conditioned. There are days that our classrooms have been documented to have temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. I can't imagine adding a thick, heavy compression bra to the mix.

On a positive note, the seroma did not cause discomfort during my mammogram. In fact, I was nervous about the mammogram hurting from that and from being my first one after radiation, but I didn't notice anything different than any other regular mammogram I had. Maybe that's because the last two mammograms I had were the one for the stereotactic biopsy and then the one just prior to surgery when they checked that the localization wires were in place. After those two, this one was easy!

I too also have a seroma located adjacent to my lumpectomy incision in the armpit. I had my surgery on July 7 and it has gone down somewhat but now feels far more solid. It does not really bother me but it did change and get a little “disfigured” when I wore a different sports bra at my hockey game. I only noticed that after I took my bra off and realized that I should have worn a different bra. It kind of got squished to the side if that makes any sense.

I do have one question. Has anyone else had puckering or dimpling over their seroma? Kind of freaking me out as I had the dimpling over my tumour. I am hoping that it is not something else but everything is making me nervous as this whole BC thing is still so new.