Wound care after Bracioplasty

I'm having my arms done on Dec. 22nd to take advantage of DH and DD being off to hold down the fort.  What is typically involved in dressing changes - will it be daily?  What about a compression sleeve - how long for that?

I'm a Canadian living in Germany and we have our own military clinic here but with reduced hours over the holidays.  Is a check up a few days or a week post surgery fairly common?

Also, what kinds of bandages, etc. should I score for free from the clinic?  My experience is the hospitals here are pretty chintzy with those kinds of things.

Mickie

Wish I could help Mickie... mine are on the 13th - so I'll be watching the answers that you get.  congrats on your date.

I had my surgery in Mexico with Dr. Sauceda.  He keeps his patients in the Hampton Inn for 2 weeks post op, once you leave the hospital.  The nurse came daily and changed my dressings.  I think daily is good.  She also applied neosporin type of ointment until they started healing, about a week or 10 days.  My doctor supplied the dressings, but regular gauze and tape was what we used.  I wore ace bandages until I got home and then I ordered some wonderful arm compression sleeves from www.marenagroup.com.

I'm returning in March for a revision since Ive lost more weight and I will be taking my new garments with me.  I didn't like the ace bandages, they kept falling off and the compression wasn't consistent.

I had steri-strips over my incisions but was allowed to shower the next day after surgery. I just used regular gauze pads and paper tape to secure them and covered with ace bandages. I didn't have as much luck with the compression sleeves as others have. Mine were very uncomfortable and I just stuck with the ace bandages. Once my steri-strips came off, I applied neosporin and wrapeed them with the ace bandages. I alternated between bio-oil and neosporin for my incisions for about 3 months post-op and it kept the scar flat and smooth.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. Interesting how many differences there are. I came out of the OR wearing ace bandages and had them for 4 days. The senior plastic surgeon resident came daily to check/change my bandages and reapplied the ace bandages. I didn't have any steristripes or anything - my wound was shut with glue although there are sutures underneath the skin that you can't see to support the wound closure. They used paper tape - and were very fussy that ONLY PAPER TAPE should be used. I was given paper tape in the hospital to take home along with bandages and alcoholic swabs to be used to help strip the jp drains.

On the 4th day I was switched to what could be called a compression sleeve - they used TED above the knee stockings (you can see the difference between TED Stocking and compression hose - mine are heavy and white http://ezinearticles.com/?Identifying-Differences-Between-TE D-Hose-and-Compression-Stockings&id=1988151 ) They cut off the foot part at the ankle and measured the lenth of my arm and cut off the top so that the hose goes from my wrist up to my armpit. This was perfect - those ace bandages kept falling apart. No need to tape the bandage, we just held it in place while pulling the stocking over it. This was also the day I was allowed to shower; I changed bandages after my showers. My surgeon's office has given me 3 pairs of these hose so I can have a freshly washed pair to put on after each shower. I also had my axilla drains removed. I kept a bandage in place over the wound until my 2nd week appointment when they said I didn't have to any more. BTW, I really needed DH to put these hose on my arms for the first two weeks because it is hard to pull them up. Oh and I cut the bandages in half to make them go farther. My surgeon actually recommends also using menstrual pads - in addition to bandages. I found that extremely helpful when one of my drains kept getting clogging and leaked a ton and kept soaking through bandages in seconds - that maxi pad was good for a couple of hours.

My arm wounds never bled or weeped so I don't know if they would have done anything different if they had. My skin was dry so on the 3rd week I was told it was okay to use moisturizer on them. I have very dry, sensitive skin so I used what I always have used because this was not the time to try some new lotion and have a nasty reaction to it. I have not used any special ointment or done any massaging to my scar. You might find this recent post interesting regarding scar care http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/plasticsurgery/4283961/Sca r-Treatment/ I also had a LBL at the same time and those wounds have been kept dry the whole time and they look the same as my arms which had moisturizer.

I was told to wear my compression for 6-8 weeks - the longer the better. I also visited my surgeon every week for 5 weeks - now I don't see him for 6 weeks unless I have problems.

I went home the same day as the surgery with sterile pads and ace bandages on my arms.  The next day I was allowed to remove them.  After that I didn't have anything on my arms - no bandages and no compression.  I went in for a check up a week after my surgery.  My surgery was November 2009.  Good luck

Thank you all SOOOO much!!!

Hugs,
Mickie

I had ace bandages, gauze and sterile tape to keep everything in place.  I don't exactly recall but think it was every day or every other day that I changed them.  I used ace bandages instead of a special garment for compression.  My armpits took longer to heal than the rest of my arms.  Once I had switch to wearing a soft Tshirt, I still would blot my arm pits with gauze after showering and as needed.

I saw something like this http://www.vitalitymedical.com/Product/SeProNet-Tubular-Elas tic-Bandage-53120LF.html  recently and thought it would have been handy to have around when I was recovering from my arms.  Best wishes for a smooth surgery and recovery~

Hi,

I'm just curious if you had alot of numbness in your arms?

Thanks,
Claudia

I did have numbness near the incision...maybe 1/2 to 1 inch on each side.  It felt more weird than bothersome.