Unusual complication Brachioplasty (long)
I am posting this because this is something that I had never heard of. I am 5 months post op TT/BL and 8 weeks post op brachioplasty. I had the drain pulled on my right arm 1 week post op and the left arm at 2 weeks post op. (My TT drains were in almost 4 weeks - guess I am just lucky this way.)
My surgeon noticed that my right arm looked a little warmer and redder than she liked when I had the drain on my left arm pulled. I had been on low dose antibiotics as a precaution. She upped changed the antibiotic and upped the dosage. 10 days later things were still not looking great, so she changed the antibiotic again and put me on a huge dose. That slowly seemed to take care of things. I was on antibiotics for 4 weeks.
My arm never looked really bad - just pink along the incision line close to my elbow and across my arm. There was swelling on and off which is normal. I never felt bad or had a fever. The incision continued to heal and today looks really great.
But along the incision and to the middle of my arm from my elbow to mid arm, the skin continues to look pink to red and irritated. In addition, I am still using pain meds to sleep as I continue to have a burning/needles and pins pain in the area. It is not really bad but annoying. Any pressure on the area really is uncomfortable.
My surgeon thinks that I may be developing sympathetic dystrophy and that the infection did not last as long as we thought.
From my web search, sympathetic dystrophy is a sympathetic nerve response to trauma that gets out of hand. Sort of a negative feedback loop is created where an irritated nerve continues to irritate itself and doesn't heal. It is a spontaneous thing that can happen - usually on an extremity - in response to something as small as a paper cut. The only treatment is symptomatic - it can, in its worse form, be very bad. It may also just spontaneously disappear.
I am being sent for a physical therapy consult. My surgeon is recommending ultrasound and massage. She has me massaging my arm twice a day until I can start the physical therapy. My research suggested using hydrocortisone cream and analgesic cream. It seems to be helping.
So just another thing to be aware of.
Michelle
My surgeon noticed that my right arm looked a little warmer and redder than she liked when I had the drain on my left arm pulled. I had been on low dose antibiotics as a precaution. She upped changed the antibiotic and upped the dosage. 10 days later things were still not looking great, so she changed the antibiotic again and put me on a huge dose. That slowly seemed to take care of things. I was on antibiotics for 4 weeks.
My arm never looked really bad - just pink along the incision line close to my elbow and across my arm. There was swelling on and off which is normal. I never felt bad or had a fever. The incision continued to heal and today looks really great.
But along the incision and to the middle of my arm from my elbow to mid arm, the skin continues to look pink to red and irritated. In addition, I am still using pain meds to sleep as I continue to have a burning/needles and pins pain in the area. It is not really bad but annoying. Any pressure on the area really is uncomfortable.
My surgeon thinks that I may be developing sympathetic dystrophy and that the infection did not last as long as we thought.
From my web search, sympathetic dystrophy is a sympathetic nerve response to trauma that gets out of hand. Sort of a negative feedback loop is created where an irritated nerve continues to irritate itself and doesn't heal. It is a spontaneous thing that can happen - usually on an extremity - in response to something as small as a paper cut. The only treatment is symptomatic - it can, in its worse form, be very bad. It may also just spontaneously disappear.
I am being sent for a physical therapy consult. My surgeon is recommending ultrasound and massage. She has me massaging my arm twice a day until I can start the physical therapy. My research suggested using hydrocortisone cream and analgesic cream. It seems to be helping.
So just another thing to be aware of.
Michelle
wow, I had my arms done a year this past easter, and my right arm I still can't feel much with it, it is numb and tingles and is just plain weird feeling...the left is fine....I had no drains, no meds to take either.........my research in this so far is that my nerves were cut and not healing, or whatever, I hope you get results for what you are doing, I did massage my arms daily in the beginning but have kinds given up.....compared to what they did look like and what they look like now, i feel lucky,,,,,my doctor said he would do a revision when I get my belly done if I wanted it. ?
Lois
Lois
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