How long in, drain tubes?

When I take drains out has everything to do with an assessment of the daily output. It must be low enough to justify the removal, or the drain must be defective (in order to remove one). For the abdomen, one drain typically comes out at a week, and the 2nd at the 2nd week. One may stay longer if the patient is a big "3rd spacer" (may have taken diuretics to manage fluid before weight loss, for example), and dumps more than normal fluid.

The goal here is to reduce the risk of seromas my removing drains too soon. It's rare (but sometimes happens) that I would remove both antherior abdominal drains at the same time. It's all one big space so even the "left" abd drain will pick up most of the right side's fluid in most cases.

Hope this helps.

W. John Suber, MD
Foothills Plastic Surgery, LLC
Greenville, SC
SuberMD.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/WJSuberMD

Thank you Dr. Suber. This is exactly what my doctor followed. He went on how much was draining and one tube was left in two weeks until it was draining less than 5.

Thank you for the feedback!