Recovery - swollen, and some very minor bleeding, 6 days after surgery

[puffetypuff]

Hey

I recently removed only the glands (well, most of it) with local anesthesia. One gland was around 2" wide, while the other was around 1.5". No fat removal was necessary, since I have very low bodyfat.

I wore some tight bandages over the chest for 3 days, before I removed it (as recommended by the surgeon). Then I had some bandages over the nipples for 2 more days (because the bandage on my left nipple was stuck in the bandage because of blood.. ).

There was no swelling on my chest, and it looked quite good.

But on day 6, I managed to use my chest muscles in a way that hurt quite a bit (I was relaxed.. and then got frightened so bad that I had a very sudden movement with my entire body). I also ate a lot of candy (why mention the candy? Well.. only a lot of candy / heat made my gyno visible before I got the surgery - got this puffy look. Don't know if it matters). There is also a possibility I did bleed some that night, through my nipple and on my bruises. But only a tiny bit - because there was some dried up blood on the right nipple (that wasn't there from before.. I think). In any case, if I did bleed, it was a bare minimum, since there were no stains on my white bed sheets.

The point is, that night my chest got swollen. And now 2 days after, it is still swollen, and tender. My surgeon says I shouldn't worry about it, since it was so many days after the surgery.

Day 1-5 no swelling
Day 6-8 swelling

It kind of feels like there is fluid where my glands used to be, and my chest is tender. Obviously this is normal after a surgery. The only thing that worries me a bit, is that I had NO swelling, now I got some. And im also worried if it is normal to bleed a tiny little bit, after surgery ?

[Litlriki]

It's not unusual to get some swelling after the surgery, even a few days afterwards.  It's not possible to say whether or not you had some bleeding or developed a seroma, and you will have to depend on your surgeon's assessment.  Just continue to follow up, and if something needs to be done to address the issue, he should be able to take care of that. It's still quite early in your post-operative period to comment beyond that.

Rick Silverman

[DrPensler]

You are early in your recovery as Dr. Silverman stated. Your clinical course is not "obviously" normal.Your course is a bit unusual but will most likely resolve.I always tell my patient I would prefer to answer 20 potentially stupid questions so as not to miss an important one. Having said that no question by a patient is stupid.If you are not sure ask,and the best person to ask is your surgeon.

[puffetypuff]

I asked my surgeon about it. He said it wasn't blood, since so many days had passed.

I don't remember the 'name' of the liquid, but it looks kind of like rust-water/blood-water.

Anyway, he recommended that I drained it / or kept preasure on it (would heal slower if I just had preasure on it). I went to a doctor, and asked if he could drain it. He didn't want to do it, said it would hurt, and that it wasn't necessary, told me to just keep preasure on it.


A couple of days passed, no change (although some minor fluid came out of the nipples..). I called my surgeon again, and told him that my doctor didn't drain it. We talked a bit, and he told me I could do it myself. Because I wouldn't feel anything if I stuck the needle in where he stitched me up.

I drained approx. 20ml from the left one, 10ml from the right one. Then I tried to keep some preasure on it - but I probably didn't have enough preasure, since my breast was filled with liquid again, the next day. So I drained it again ... and put MORE preasure on it. I hope I don't have to drain it anymore now. Im sure it's not a good thing sticking needles in my chest every day (to drain), when it comes to scarring.

And my surgeon was also right, sticking a needle in didn't hurt one bit. It's weird the doctor didn't know that, even though I told him I had this surgery.


Thanks for your replies.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

I don't know how you did it, but a non-medical person sticking a needles into his chest to drain fluid is certainly not recommended.  There are many risks involved, none the least of which would be the introduction of infection. 

Any fluid drainage should be done by a medical professional.

Dr Jacobs