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Mastectomy with Tissue Expander Questions about Mastectomy with Tissue Expander. |
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| 1/8/2012 | I had a bilateral masectomy on June 23 with expanders. On Nov. 15 I woke up soaking wet. It was not my expander but seroma that broke through a part of my surgical site. That Thurs. my doctor replaced my expander. I had a drain in place for app. 2 weeks. He did not remove the stitches until Dec. 23 , when he did one was pretty deep a nd it started leaking some fluid. He put me on antibiotics. On Christmas night I started to leak fluid from my surgical site at a much larger rate.It stopped in a couple of days then started up again. On Fri. Jan. 6 th he expanded me by 60 cc again and my surgical site has not stopped leaking. I have lost a lot of time from work and have a very physically demanding job. What can I do to get this area healed befor I end up with a serious infection on top of everything else. Also the history of this breast is that I had a lumpectomy app. 5 yrs. before this in which I also developed a case of seroma. I had chemo ( which I opted out of this time.) and I had radiation to the site at this time. I know the radiation has made the tissue harder to heal but I feel as though something shoul be done to stop the fluid from leaking through the surgical site before I develope a serious infection. Thank-You | ||
| Replied | JHU's Breast Center Reply | ||
| 1/8/2012 | wow. what an ordeal you have been through for 7 months and continue to go through. Without being the treating physician it is hard to guess what to do. However it seems as if your body is saying that it doesn't like this expander and therefore also might not like a permanent implant either. Yur body is shouting out to you via the production of this continuous drainage. it is very fortunate and surprising that you haven't gotten an infection yet. Consider requesting to meet with a plastic surgeon at the facility who specializes in DIEP flap. (I'm hoping they have one there. NOT doing TRAM flap but DIEP flap and if you don't have tummy fat then S-GAP. such a procedure may be the direction to now go.) | ||
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