Rogue stitches 2 years after neck lift. What can be done to treat this? (Photo)

Question

I had a neck lift 2 years ago. My wounds never drained properly. My surgeon ignored me when I complained of remaining stitches in my ear. I went to another surgeon who told me that I had mistaken my salivary glands for swelling. 2 years later the stitch has moved down into my neck. I thought I had a pimple but, when I squeezed blood came gushing out of my neck. I know it was from that stitch that never dissolved. Nobody will help me!

Zoran Potparic, MD · Answer

Unfortunately, you had infection of incision site very soon after surgery. It is very likely that one or more of deep stiches, possibly permnent, was also infected but, in time, infection went away. Small collection of infected material and bacteria stayed there and, 2 years later, new infection around the stich was activated; very rare complication but can happen after any surgery, in particular involving permanent sutures and early postoperative infection, like you had. Hope this helps.

Lucian Ion, FRCS · Answer

Thank you for your question and sharing your photographs.

It seems that you may have stitches under the skin that have been used to put tension on the lateral part of the platysma muscles and that they are creating problems.

The stitches can be removed if they are the offending problem and the access can be through the scar around the earlobes of the recent surgery so that you do not have an additional scar in the end.

The current situation suggests that antibiotic treatment may also be needed. I would advise discussing with your family doctor to take some samples for microbiology. Because of the appearance of the discharge from the area under the right earlobe, I would suggest that it should be tested also for acid fast bacilli (AFB) apart from the common bacteria.

Cleaning the area was an antiseptic will help it calm down but may not solve the problem in the long term if there are permanent stitches and you are not tolerating them well.

It may be worth discussing with another local plastic surgeon about this concern. When you were seen in the beginning it may have been confusing because of the pattern of swelling but this will be different if you seek help  at this point in time.

I hope this helps

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