Seroma

I have two large seromas several months after surgery. My doctor advised me to bind my chest for a couple of days to see if my body removes some of the fluid naturally. If that doesn’t work, I’ll be going in their office in the middle of the week to drain it. Hoping that it goes and stays away! Will update you.

Dorothy,

I had a seroma 10 days after surgery. It drained clearish fluid out at first thru the node incision, then once that closed up, the fluid started backing up, it had no where to drain out. My BS drained it twice. She cultured the drainage and it had no growth. Meanwhile on day 10, I also developed cellulitis from the node site going toward my upper breast area. No fever, but was on 3 different antibiotics in a month. Other than meds, she told me to use a heating pad on it for an hour and a half each day and limit repetitive movements and no lifting anything heavier than 5 gallons of milk. She told me it couldn’t be radiated until it was well.....since then, I have found out I will be having chemo. The cellulitis had faded almost to nothing. The fluid from seroma means to have moved from node area down the inside of my upper arm. It’s not painful. So, that’s the story of my seroma after lumpectomy and I have an appt with BS next a Monday. Interested to see if this is lymphedema or cording.

My MO wasn’t happy about me waiting so long to see him, but the BS wouldn’t released me to him.

I hope yours and Eyecandys is resolved.

Hi Dorothy, I couldn't stand the pain and smell from my seroma. I had it drained 3 times and by the next day it filled right back up again. A friend that makes peri spray with Do Terra essential oils brought me out a bottle and no word of a lie my seroma was gone the next day.

I am so sorry you are going through this, like having cancer wasn't enough to deal with, right!? Sending you hugs.

xxx

Hi. Hope everyone's seromas resolve soon. Those buggers sometimes don't want to. I was feeling good in Jan. 2018 after surgery but around the 3 week mark I was doing chores and not wearing enough support. In fact, I recall shaking out and folding laundry wearing nothing at all. Worse thing I could have done!! My breast swelled and hurt. BS decided not to drain it, it did not delay my radiation treatment, and I wore high impact sports bras for a long time and it did resolve. I actually think radiation helped the fluid go down, but there's definitely hard scar tissue there now. This year, 2019 I was exercising and felt a pain in my left breast. Later I saw my breast was red. On my next imaging a couple of months later it showed up. I got a birads3. Here I am 6 months later and it's still there. I guess I never realized how much tissue was removed and the remaining messed with the get the best looking results with a 4cm tumor. The enhancement was 1cm so here's hoping not much has changed on imaging upcoming next month. Ugh. Thanks for the suggestion of essential oil. I'll look into that.

Hi,

I had surgery on November 18th. 7 days later started to develop a seroma under armpit where they had removed the lymph nodes. Like a growing duck egg. I was a teapot for days. My assigned BC nurse was hopeless. By day 13 I thought it would burst my stitches so had an urgent referral where they drained off over 200cc. Done by an amazing mature, very experienced nurse whom I could have married. VERY painful to drain. But clear fluid.

Three hours later it started filling up again. Underarm and shoulder etc very sore and painful. Exhausting. Get Path results on 5th so will probably need to be re-drained. Armpit is now black and blue from the needle and leaking some fluid. I am scared this repeat draining will need to go on and on....and cause infection possibly. Also hinder radiotherapy start.

Just how long does it take for the seroma to stop refilling...??

Bunny62: I had a seroma also after my surgery. developed at 10 days and had to be drained twice. It’s still there now but not changing or filling up any more. The doctor cultured fluid from mine which came back negative, but I still took antibiotics for a month, go figure. They always tell me to use a heating pad on it for an hour and a half each day on low, which I never felt like it helped, but it might help yours. I thought it would delay my radiation but as it turns out , I am having chemo too, so that’s first. My doctor also says not to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. I hope yours gets better very soon, mine was very distressing as well.

Did you have a drain after surgery? I did not and wish I had but from what I can gather some people get them and some don’t....Lucky us

Thanks Bunny62....seromas are definitely a pain in the butt....and I agree, they are downplayed too much. So sorry to hear you have an infection, I hope it clears up soon.

I’ll be very interested to hear if your radiation oncologist has any concern about your seroma and how that will effect your treatments.

Day 6 after first chemo and doing ok.Just very tired and nothing tastes right, bone pain is better

I also had a seroma that was awful for me but not as much fluid drained as you. Bless your heart! ❤️It’s so painful. Mine started 10 days after surgery and I had to have it drained two times. My surgeon told me to put a heating pad on it for one and a half hours every day. All at one time, not split up at small intervals. I really don’t know if it helped but it finally resolved itself. Surgeon also told me not to be using it a lot, no lifting. Sometimes it still feels swollen but it’s not building up with fluid. Mine was the same color as what you described. Mine was not infected but dr prescribed strong antibiotics anyway.

My skin was also discolored....red, not hot, never had fever.

Where do you live?

Feel free to ask anything else... it will resolve

6 wks is unheard of! Please call and call everyday and demand results. No excuse for it to take longer than one week

Hi Abbidoodle,

Yes, had two small seromas in my armpit causing pain for 1.5 years after my surgery. Had them drained about 6 times, first by the breast surgeon, then radiology under ultrasound viewing. Yes they fill up again but finally the fluid decreased until there was only a small drop left and some of the lymph fluid got solid. They can’t get anymore fluid out but the bump is still larger than if no seromas existed. They also sent a sample of the fluid to make sure no cancer existed since I was complaining of pain, negative.

Make sure they drain under ultrasound so they can see the size and have a record of the scan to compare for future draining. I spread out my draining appts by several months after a bad experience with large upper leg seromas where lymph nodes were removed and drained too frequently which got infected and had to have emergency surgery. seromas are a pain but it seems they eventually resolve and the breast cancer ones weren’t as problematic as the melanoma leg lymph node removal.

Thank you, Veeder14 for your input. My surgeon did use an ultrasound when he drained them. I go back next week and I'm sure he'll try draining them again. I'm sorry it took yours so long to get straightened out, but at least I know now that it could take awhile. Thank you again.

Abbidoodle,

Your welcome. Good luck with your appt next week. I don’t know why some of us get these and others don’t. Mine would fill up again in about 12 hours, very frustrating after a 4 hr round trip to the hospital each time. Come back and let us know how it goes

Helen Louise - That is an excellent explanation of why a seroma forms and it how my PS explained to me.

Seroma is super common and through my surgeries I had multiple ones. Not sure why surgeon wouldn’t be able to diagnose a seroma but just a visual exam. I always had mine drained and never experienced an infection. But mine were always drained a few times and they always disappeared without any drama.

Abbidoodle- I bet now that you are properly diagnosed the issue will resolve quickly. Sorry you had to go through all that for a seroma. Well at least you know itwill disappear and should not be an ongoing issue. Good luck!!