Ok, I was banded on 4-17-06. I am feeling fine..... But everyday my skin is getting more and more irritated, just around the staples. My next appointment is Friday the 28th. My Dr. is 2 and a half hours away so I can't just go and let him look at it. I need a nurses opinion or something. I know most of you are going to say, check with your Dr. I know and I will. But I need to know if I am over reacting or what. So look at the pictures and please post or email me. I am going to see if my Dr. will let me email them some pictures before I have to drive for nothing. If it is nothing. I know that my ears do the same thing when I wear earrings, unless they are 14 or 18 ct. gold. (I hate gold) I am scared that they will get infected and then my incisions will get infected too. I am so worried and I am crying while I write this. I paid 15,000 for this and I am so scared that I will have to pay more to get it out. ok, ok, ok. sorry.

Please just give me some advice.

dsgreen@htcnet.net

Ouch!!! I don't really have any advice, except maybe alchohol or something? I know that's what I use on my ears, lol. At least call your doctor before you do anything, though! Don't want anything to hurt the incision!

Maybe some Benedryl lotion to decrease your reaction? (Just throwing out ideas.)

Good luck! Let us know what happens!

my opinion is that you may be allergic to the medal of the staples. Do contact your Dr and see if you can send him some pictures and ask him if you can put some neosporine..SP? on it.

Awe Sarah, that looks so bad :party:

Why dont you give your doc a call in the morning and possibly email him these pics??

My staples irritated me and caused redness, so I took 'em out starting about 4 or 5 days post op. By the time I had my first visit, I only had 4 staples left in my belly!

I dont remember if I applied anything (like an antibiotic cream) - but i DO remember it was a TOTAL relief when I would take one out.

I have been putting neosporin on them since I left the hospital. He said that was ok. I have the tool to take out the staples. I know how to do it. I have done it before. I have a friend who is a nurse and I have learned alot from her. Don't want you to think I am just going to go nuts and start doing something i know nothing about. So... if I have to I can take them out. What do ya think?

I am preband, but my husband developed an infection after his hernia surgery....looks a little like his. Also, as a mother, I would say it looks like some infection. I would use hydrogen peroxide followed by some neosporin. IMO your not over reacting. It looks to me like something that can be taken care of fairly easily. Maybe some antibiotics are in order. Ask your doc and good luck. Keep us posted and keep your chin up!!

Are the areas hot or inflamed? Do they hurt? Are they weeping? These are the questions that the doctors office is going to ask.... Hot, and "angry" red imply an infection. ~Mandy

I am like you and basically allergic to anything that is not gold or silver. When I had my DD's c-sec the staples made me insane and itchy and red like this. i would find that soaking with hydrogen peroxide, and then the pain killing neosporin really helped to take the edge off until i could get into the doc. since you are already doing these things i do not know what else to tell you. I do not recommend taking them out yourself. If you do have an infection that can hinder the body's ability to heal, and if you remove them it could cause the wounds to open up.

I'm an RN so you know I HAVE to say you should see your MD. That said, I do not think your incisions look bad or infected. As you heal, it's natural to see the red color along the suture line as well as some "puckering" of the skin. It's also natural to "itch" as you heal. Clean the incision with alcohol or betadine and then apply an over-the-counter antibiotic cream/ointment. Shower daily and clean the incisions after your shower and apply the antibiotic cream/ointment.

You're suture lines looked well healed so you might want to consider calling the MD to move your appt. up so you can get the staples out.

Sarah,

Gosh, I just wanna itch those things for you...

As a message board, I dont think we are -allowed- to 'OK' the removal of those stapels.

If you chose to take those stapels out, then it needs to be completely YOUR decision, ok?

I had 3 bikini line c-sections, and all 3 times I only had steri-strips to keep the incision closed.

When a mother is 300 pounds with an extemely large apron, steri strips on a bikini line have no chance of survival! Thankfully, my guts never fell out!

Please keep us posted as to what you decide to do.

Hey Everybody!

I called my Doc this morning and I am going this afternoon. He is going to take the staples out today and if there is infection he will treat it. (That is what nurse said)

I want to thank everyone who gave advice, cause I was a total wreck!

I could not sleep at all last night, I was up till 2ish. Oh well.

Well I will let yall know what he says this afternoon. I am a quick healer so my feeling is that it will be fine, even if it may have some slight infection.

One more question. Those of you who have had stapels. Or nurses? Is there any trace of the staples after you are healed. Like scaring or anything. I think they are called track marks? But I think that is only if they are left in an extened amout of time, right.

I had someone email me and explain something like this.

Well I heal and don't scar alot so I am not to worried but I am just curious. At first my incisions looked GREAt and I was so excited of how they were hardly visible. Besides the staples. Now I am a little disappointed becasue of the redness and inflamation.

I will let yall know this evening how it all went!!!!

Thanks so much

My incisions were in the same condition as yours. I used a loofa and lightly scrubbed them with Dial antibiotic soap, rinsed throughly, dried throughly and applied an antibiotic cream and kept them covered with bandages. I changed the bandages twice daily. Now you can barely notice my scars. But as everyone else said check with your doc first. Best of luck!

Last year I had abdominal surgery and they used liquid stitches in 3 areas - do they use staples on everyone like yours Sarah?

I just thought of that when I saw your incisions, ouch they look itchy. I don't think I have seen this mentioned, or I didn't pay close enough attention.

Hi Sarah

I am an LPN with experience in surgery ans well as taking care of patients post-op. I totally agree with Elizebethsew. With some people there is a certain degree of redenss without infection. Some are more sensitive than others and doen not mean infection. Signs of infection would be redness spreading, warm/hot to touch, swelling, oozing, and temperature. Keep the are clean, dry, and keep in touch withyour doc. Congrats on the surgery. I havent had mine yet!

Hi Sarah,

I'd bet my band that you are suffering from a metal allergy. If you have a reaction to metal other than 14K and higher gold, that just screams METAL ALLERGY to me. Don't let it worry you too much, lot and lots of people have it. It may take a bit to clear up since this metal was not only on the surface of your skin but also subdermal - below the skin.

I don't think I'd use a loofa - they're very rough - but I would definitely gently clean the wounds several times per day and reapply a topical antibiotic such as Neosporin. You should be aware that the active ingredient in Neosporin dissipates in a relatively short period of time and, if left in place, can actually harbor bacteria, so it's very important to clean the area several times per day and then reapply.

As far as scarring goes, I've been using Maderma for scars ever since the wounds were completely healed. It seems to be doing a good job and my scars are getting lighter every day and have remained completely smooth and flat.

I'm so sorry you've had the last couple of days from hell. I know how it feels to worry yourself to tears - I'm a worrier so I've totally been there! I'm pretty sure that once your staples are out you're going to be just fine.

See you back on the board and please let us know what your doc said.

It will feel a lot better when the staples come out!

I had staples in my foot from foot surgery. Those darn staples irriatated me just like yours. I thought it look like Frankenstein, and it would look hideous the rest of my life! My foot surgery was 3 years ago... you can barely see my scar now...Thank God. Used Vitamin E oil like the Doc said to.. had to wait awhile first.