I got my staples removed about a week ago. The past two days, my incision areas have been extremely itchy to the point where I can't stop myself from scratching all over. I woke up in the middle of the night last night because they were so itchy and I had to put lotion over my whole stomach! It's not like it's a constant worry of mine, because the itchiness comes and goes. About ten minutes ago I began scratching again and I looked down and noticed all five of my incision areas are swollen! Not red or anything, but warm and irritated. I know it's because I've been scratching and messing with them, but I'm worried now that I have infected something. My port has a huge hump over it now and I'm so deathly afraid that I've messed something up. Only two of my bandages have fallen off and I've been putting Vitamin E over them like the doctor said. A few minutes ago I added Neosporin over all of my swollen areas and it feels better now but I'm still really really worried.

Am I in deep trouble?

Have you tried taking an antihistamine?

its very common for healing inscions to swell and itch,i use a topical cortizone and it worked great.good luck!

Mine are on fire too, but I didnt have staples, just the little strips of gauze over them. I had my surgery on 12/12 and just the past few days they are driving me insane. I have all but one piece left on there, but I'm glad so I dont scratch off the parts that are trying to heal. I've heard it goes away, i just keep lotion and oil on there and it seems to help.

Mine was done on 12-14 and i also had the internal desolvable stitches and Steristrip covering them and the steristrips really made my skin just crawl!!!!!at my 7 day checkup the Doctor said it was ok to remove them so i did.the adhesive really made the skin red and itchy.Cortizone was the only thing that helped.

My goodness! My incisions started itching at 1 mont post op! I have tried Cortizone, no luck. It is contact dermatitis except I cannot figure out what it is in contact with. The glue has been gone for weeks! I have tried antihistamines also, they just make me tired though. My next option is calamine lotion! My next option will be a prescription cream!

My problem was'nt so much with my incisions but from every where they used surgical tape to mark off the surgical field. I was really allergic to that tape (totally genetic my mother has the same problem). I was afraid to take an antihistamine orally so I used a topical cream from the pharmacy. I would talk to your doctor and see whether you can take something orally or use a cream.

I was banded on 12/16 and 2 days later all of my incision sites were fire red and itching like crazy. I also had little red bumps all over my stomach. Went to the dr, and he said i was having an allergic reaction to the glue. He removed the glue and wrote me a script for a steroid, just finished taking my last pill and all the redness and itching is now gone...I also used Benedryl cream.

i also had staples and my incisions were red and itchy especially the port incision had begun to get infected. i found out i was Allergic to Nickel. Staples are titanium but have nickel in them so u can develop allergic reaction. i had to go see dr and he saw incisions and said if redness warm and tender skin continued to call back. well i developed infection and had to be put on liquid Keflex 4 times a day. if it continues pls go see dr