Infection- what do you think is the likelyhood of getting it?

Ok I have to ask this because my supervisor at work had a tummy tuck at a hospital a couple years ago and ended up getting MRSA. Now she is worried about me becasue I am looking into going out of country and she doesn't want me to get an infection.

I have not hardly read anything about people getting infections after their surgery. any feedback on that?

Anytime you go into the hospital you get a chance.  I got it after a knee replacement I think it is just a chance you have to take just try to make sure everyone washes their hands before touching you. 

2 weeks after my surgery, I got an infection.  probably along the drain site.  I still had a drain in and that was the only thing they could come up with.  I ended up in the hospital with IV antibiotics for 3 days.

I got a resistant staph infection of the seroma following my LBL in July of 2008.  I had to have surgery to clean out the would and scrape the seroma pocket.  I was on IV abx for 4 days. That infection was not MRSA, BUT the infection that I got in my lower thigh at the knee following my revision was MRSA. I spent 6 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics.  I also left with an open wound on my leg that had to be packed for 6 weeks. Not the best experience in the world, but I'm still happy that I did my thighs.  I also had my arms and flanks done following this infection with no problems. You really don't know if you are going to get a serious infection.

It's true, you never know all you can do is the best you can to avoid it by washing your hands and not touching your incision areas.  Still you could get it.  I would say the chances of getting it in a hospital are greater than in a smaller clinic but there is no way to guarentee you won't - anywhere.

The first infected seroma that I got was 6 weeks after my body lift.  My incisions were well closed, and we have no idea what caused the infection.  It started out as cellulitis in my abdomen about 1 week after having the seroma aspirated.  Could it have been caused by the aspiration? Not sure.  If it has been the aspiration getting the infection into the seroma pocket, it should have developed faster.  We really have no idea on that infection.

The second infection started as a seroma, and it was aspirated following an ultrasound of the area.  A radiologist did the aspiration in a flouroscopy suite.  The fluid tested negative for bacteria.  Two days later, I had a massive MRSA infection.  I believe that the MRSA was introduced during the aspiration.  My leg had been scrubbed with betadyne solution and sterile techique was used.  Now I am colonized with MRSA and have to be very careful about skin breaks.  I was very nervous about my arm lift and flank skin removal.  I washed with Hibacleans the morning of surgery making sure that my skin was very clean.  I was given IV Vancomycin as part of perioperative care, and had extra cleansing of my skin at time of surgery.  I had no infections with this surgery.  I was still given cleocin 10 days post op as well, even though my MRSA is resistant to cleocin, but that was the best broad spectrum for other pathogens that I might deal with.

I also used a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol before dressing any of my wounds or dealing with the incisions and when emptying my drains.  If you use good asceptic techniques, you can lower your risk, but the bottom line is that you can still get an infection.

I was being treated in a clinic and not in the main hospital prior to getting either infection as well.

I was in a hurry last night when I answered, so I hope that this is a more complete answer on my experience with infection.

My DR gave me a script for PHYSOHEX Soap ,,not sure of spelling but you start to wash with it 3 days prior to surgery. It builds a resistance to infection ( barrior on your skin ) prior to surgery,,
I always use it when I am going in for anything .
It comes in a green bottle and you just bathe with it like soap.