Seromas and Hematomas

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TazMom
TazMom Member Posts: 23
edited February 2022 in Living Without Reconstruction After a Mastectomy

I had my BMX on 10/15/21. All went well, all cancer gone, took 7 nodes and all negative. The drainage in my left breast that had the cancer in it went to yellow pretty quickly and slowed within 10 days. The drainage on the right side was a dark red the entire time and was still about 30-40ml when she removed both drains on 10/28/21. My surgeon said to leave them in just puts me at higher risk of developing infection. Since I wasn't a fan of the drains, I didn't cry when she took them both (but I had been prepared to keep the right one in another week or so). She said the right side had already started clotting and wouldn't drain much more anyway.

Here's the thing though. She removed the drains and my right side has puffed out as though my breast is re-growing. It is somewhat hard to the touch and is uncomfortable. I had considerable bruising on that side from the surgery, so that is also still healing. My PT told me that I have a hematoma there. When I saw the surgeon last week, she said it's a seroma. Because they removed my breasts, this is the body's natural response to fill a void that has been created. She said she could remove the fluid, but ultimately it would re-absorb back into my body and I just needed to allow it time to heal. From what I've read online it could take a month or more for this to happen. It feels like it's getting bigger and it feels more and more uncomfortable. I'm not necessarily in pain, but the tightness is becoming bothersome. I've heard some say apply ice, but it's not that kind of swelling. I've also been told to apply heat. Has anyone else had these issues and if so, was there anything you were able to do to help alleviate the symptoms? I'm tempted to tell her to remove the fluid when I see her again this week. She doesn't seem concerned about this, so I'm trying not to be either. Up until now I've felt really good and had little to no pain. I'm considering taking the Norco the doctor prescribed (and I haven't taken any so far), though I don't think it would help in this case. Any help, advice, etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all,

Amy

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  • xxyzed
    xxyzed Member Posts: 230
    edited November 2021

    I had this. The surgeon drained the fluid a few times to make it more comfortable. They are trying to find the balance for you between infection risk and comfort. If it is too uncomfortable ask them if they can drain it. Mine eventually went down but there is still some fluid in the cavity that shows in ultrasounds but does not bother me more than 5 years later.

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  • ctmbsikia
    ctmbsikia Member Posts: 1,095
    edited November 2021

    You could try compression. A really tight fitting top or even wrap up in an ace bandage. Mainly it just takes time. Hope it resolves for you sooner rather than later.

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  • zuri927
    zuri927 Member Posts: 4
    edited November 2021

    I have a similar situation. Surgery was 9/7 so 10 weeks post op i still have a drain producing 50-70 ml a day and am on antibiotics to prevent infection. General surgeon just tells me to be patient but admits it may not heal. Plastic surgeon says if it hasn't healed by now its not going to and I"ll need to have the capsule surgically removed. GS says seroma may recur even then. PS did suggest the possibility of sclerotherapy where radiologist introduces an irritant into the capsule to see if that will make the tissues heal. Basically, there seems to be no accepted answer and I'm terribly frustrated - still trying not to use my right shoulder but worried about that too.

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  • Sloth2
    Sloth2 Member Posts: 1
    edited February 2022

    Hi-

    I had the same thing happen after my mastectomy in November 2021. I had a lot of bruising and immediate swelling at the surgical site. It was very uncomfortable. The swelling was as arge, or maybe even slightly larger, than my breast had been! I had a right mastectomy over 20 years ago, and the one thing i was looking forward to after the second one was being symmetrical (no reconstruction after the first surgery). I didn't even have that!

    My surgeon took the drain out after 2 weeks when it was still draining 30 - 60 cc's per day. The swelling increased and got so uncomfortable that the surgeon used a needle to remove about 100 cc's. It increased again, I went back and had another 120 cc's removed. At that point, I requested that he do a hematoma evacuation because it was just too uncomfortable and didn't seem to be resolving at all. This was about 5-6 weeks after the mastectomy. The surgery was schedlued and in the meantime I developed an infection. The antibiotic prescribed didn't help, they switched, it got a little better. The surgeon went ahead and did the evacuation. It was a day surgery, and not hard to recover from at all. I went back to work the next day.

    I'm very glad I had the evacuation done, my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. The area felt so much better after the evacuation. I wouldn't have had to have multiple appointments and all the discomfort if I had had it sooner.

    I'm posting this several months after your original post. If you're still having issues I thought my experience might help, but I hope it has all been resolved for you and you're no longer having problems.

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