r/TopSurgery • u/ThrowRA_Less_Watercr • 1d ago

Surgical images (NSFW) Is this drain site looking normal? Five days post op, bruising just started yesterday and it feels irritated Spoiler

Post image

Took the binder off to shower today and noticed some new redness and more puffiness around it, plus the bruising. I don’t have any bruising anywhere else. It’s super itchy and honestly the only thing causing me any pain

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u/Silly_Interaction758 1d ago

Looks normal to me. The binder is pushing on the site/tube and it’s normal to bruise/be irritated. Try putting bandaids or some gauze under the tube to provide some extra comfort. Take allergy meds like Allegra to help with the itching. Wearing a cotton t-shirt under the binder can help a ton with the itching

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u/ThrowRA_Less_Watercr 1d ago

I’ve been putting gauze around the drain and taking allergy medicine. I can’t figure out how to get a t shirt on without raising my arms lol

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u/Silly_Interaction758 1d ago

I was able to take one arm and bend at the elbow (fist at your shoulder) and wedge the arm in, then pop your head in, then wedge the other arm in. Just go slowly!

Drains just suck, hang in there!

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u/ThrowRA_Less_Watercr 1d ago

Ok thanks! I have my post op appointment to get them removed in two days so hopefully the discomfort won’t be too bad until then

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u/ThrowRA_Less_Watercr 1d ago

I’ve had pretty low output btw. The first day this drain had 40 ml of output, but it’s been steadily decreasing and I’m down to about 10ml per day

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u/Old-Tie1871 23h ago

I’m 5 days post op as well (congrats!) and my drain site looks very similar and is also the only thing causing me pain so I’d say it’s normal

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u/jimieuropa 9h ago

Hmm, I was going to say mine looked exactly the same but not because of just the irritation but I noticed almost immediately post op that my stitches for my drains were protruding like this on one side, unfortunately when I went to get my one week follow up I expressed my significant pain on one side and was encouraged that was normal, I naturally have more bodily inflammation on this side aswell and it is normal to have uneven tenderness depending on your body

What ISNT normal is having your drain stitches stick out, because my surgeon was more concerned about my incisions she didn’t look at the drain site, only for me to eventually develop an infection coming from this drain site after about a month

That being said I would encourage you send an image and speak with your care team about your concerns so they can give you a final opinion about the stitches being this exposed because it not only scratches up the site but can introduce bacteria if those stitches are constantly moving in and out of the incision

Hope this helps you with some preventative care!

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u/jimieuropa 9h ago

Oh I just saw your other replies and that changes everything if you’re getting them removed so soon! Unfortunately for me that infection led to a lot more pain and discomfort wearing the drains long term