I had a full tummy tuck on the 15th (yeah!!) and I was told a few days after the surgery to "take of the dressing and clean the wound". So here we are and it seems much more complicated than that. We (hubby and I) opened up the elastic compression bandage and found a large white dressing that wraps all the way around me. Does this just come off? What's under there? What is the best way to do this - recliner or standing up? Do I have to replace the dressing? Or just clean it up and then put the compression on again? Spongebath - what exactly can't I get wet? If I'm cleaning the whole area with soap and water, why not just take a shower? Questions that should have been asked before but weren't thought of until now, which is of course a sunday afternoon and so nobody to call except the emergency dr, and I don't think these questions constitute an emergency. So please, bandsters unite and help me figure this out!! Thanks!:smile:

Hi:

Sorry, I can't remember exactly what I did. You might want to check out makemeheal.com to see if there's someone there who can help. Also, check a few of the plastic surgeon's websites and it might have a page for post-surgical care. Your surgeon should have given you written instructions because when you're under the influence of pain meds you can't remember well. Hope it goes well.

Take care.

Sue

Wow....I'm surprised that you were told to do this yourself when there is such extensive bandaging.

I also had a major bandage, lots of padding with heavy-duty tape covering it....and it covered me basically from side to side and pubic line to sternum. The difference being I was told not to touch it until the Dr. was ready to remove the drains and they would do the bandage at the same time. Turns out I had drains and bandaging on for 16 days !! I never even saw my incision until then.

As for the shower, even after 16 days my PS didn't want water hitting it directly, I could shower, but with my back to the spray.

Personally, if this was me I would call the PS's office, get the answering service to page the on-call Dr. and ask them my questions. If you're anything like me, I just paid *HUGE* $$$'s for this surgery and aftercare is included !!!

Good luck and congrats !!!

Remove the abdominal dressing,doing it by lying down.Once it is removed you will see the incision. What did the plastic surgeon tell you to clean the wound with? Do not shower unless you have specific instructions to do so! Also once you have replaced the sterile dressing,reapply the binder.

The surgeon's post care instructions said to "remove dressing and reapply as necessary." But I wasn't sure what was necessary or not and what to replace it with. And it did say to not shower, that question was more my own wondering.

And I think that until I have my drains removed in a week, the point is just to make sure I don't leave the same dressing on the whole time. I don't actually touch or adjust the drains or anything (well, beyond the emptying and measuring.) I was nervous seeing the incision and touching it to gently clean it, but it didn't hurt (much) and wasn't as fragile as I was afraid it would be. (Nightmare images of touching it and it "unzipping" were just that - nightmares!)

I did end up calling the on-call surgeon anyway (my husband agreed with canadagirl33's thinking and said - we just paid a butt ton of money for this surgery, completely out of pocket, so if we need clarification, we ARE going to call for it!!) and he was nice about it. He said to remove the dressings, clean gently and reapply new gauze bandages only if the incision was weeping, but if not then to just put the binder back on. So I ended up just removing the dressing, gently cleaning and then binder back on.

Thanks for the help and comments!!

Edited July 19, 201016 yr by clayverde