% of wound infections after open surgery?

Hello,
I had Laproscopic RNY 10 years ago. All went smoothly no infections or issues. I am looking into a revision which will be open. Terrifying thought. I am wondering how may people on this site who had open surgeries developed wound infections. 

Do you have any advise how to minimize or eliminate this occurrence?

Thank you
Whit

I had a revision from RNY to DS in April of last year.  Mine was open and no infections here 

I don't think infections depend on surgical approach.  I had a lap gallbladder removal and developed a little infection at one of the wounds.  Also this may sound elementary, but protect it like crazy.  I got another infection after I had a small cancer removed from my nose.  Two day after I had it removed, my mother in law died.  It was absolutely impossible to keep it clean and dry.

Your doctor will tell you how to take care of it.  Do what he says.  They may itch, but don't scratch; that was my mistake after I had my gallbladder out.  After those two infections, I was super vigilant after my DS and total knee replacement.

Hi,

I want to say Dr. Rabkin said 6% develop wound infections. Amazingly I did not. I had 5 tubes plus the incision so all the dressings had to be changed daily... but I did not have a problem. There is a device called wound vacuum which they connected to my incision (the big one) and it contributes to less wound infections I believe.

To minimize is the caregiver who changes your dressings uses gloves and changes them between wounds in case there are multiple ones. Wash hands, hand sanitizer and all that.

Hope this helps. Terri

 I had open ds with my appendix and gallbladder removed and they just used this plastic stuff that protected it. No one changed my dressings and i did not develop a infection. I did take a long time to heal though but it was because i was not taking my vitamins twice a day once i joined these groups and heard more about it i checked my supplement details and changed it accordingly and i healed up pretty fast after that 

I had an open DS in Feb. 2010. No wound infections.  I think your aftercare is very important.  Keeping the area clean and dry, making sure anything that touches the wound is sterile and/or very clean.  And as simple as it sounds, hand washing and paying attention to your nails which can hide lots of nasty bugs.