So my incision had been open for about 3 wks now, how much longer will it close?! If it looks right? (photo)

Question

Had any doc used santyl? So I clean my wound with surgical pads twice a day with hibiclens and saline wound wash, Is that ok? And I wanted to know about santyl cream it help close open wound way faster!!

William T. Stoeckel, MD · Answer

You need to change what you are doing, in my opinion. This is an extremely rare complication with tummy tuck surgery to begin with and should be healing faster than it is. I would recommend saline moistened gauze dressings to this being changed at least twice a day. The gauze should be similar to kerlex in order to stimulate granulation tissue growth. Your surgeon should be intimately involved with getting this healed. You should not be treating this with hibiclens twice a day. Hibiclens is great for killing bacteria and is used often to prep the skin for surgery, but it can be toxic to healthy tissue too and can prevent healing. Simple saline moistened gauze would be better, in my opinion.

Adam J. Oppenheimer, MD, FACS · Answer

Wound complications are uncommon after Tummy Tuck. The most common reasons are cigarette smoking and excess tension on the wound. Saline dressings twice per day are generally sufficient to help keep a wound clean, along with a shower once daily. Your surgeon should follow you closely (at least once per week) until this is healed. Seek a second opinion if you are not getting close follow up care.

Tom J. Pousti, MD · Answer

Although your concern is understandable, superficial separation of the incision line after tummy tuck surgery can occur and usually heals without  affecting the long-term outcome of the procedure.  This healing process may take a few weeks to occur. Usually, re- suturing is not necessary and may expose you to the risk of infection…Close follow-up with your plastic surgeon (and patience) will be important. Best wishes;  hopefully you will be very pleased with the long-term outcome of the coming of procedure. Sometimes scar revision surgery is helpful.

Beth Collins, MD · Answer

You should wash with plain soap and water and dress this wound with saline mmoistened gauze. This complication is unusual and may have occurred because too much skin was removed and when you stood up straight, it put undue tension on the suture line. It looks like the skin edges are healthy and the wound is clean. As long as you are seeing progress (i.e. the wound is closing) you can expect that your body will do the work to heal this wound. Please make sure that you are being followed at least once a week by your surgeon to make sure that this is happening the correct way. Good luck.

Jourdan Gottlieb, MD · Answer

Without knowing a bit more about the time course, it is hard to predict. For example, has this gotten smaller (or larger) in the last few days?I would expect this to be healed in about a month assuming it is getting better at this moment. Santyl is useful when there is debris in the wound. This looks quite clean, so I see no benefit. Follow with your surgeon, all the best.

Robert E. Zaworski, MD (retired) · Answer

This is highly unusual to have an open wound after a tummy tuck.  Follow up with your surgeon every couple of days until this is resolved. Otherwise, seek a second opinion.  Best wishes!

So my incision had been open for about 3 wks now, how much longer will it close?! If it looks right? (photo)

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