Day 41 post LBL, medial thigh lift

I think I've turned a corner, my friends. I have not had any new incisions open in 9 DAYS. Woohoo! Here's a rundown of what's going on:

• My left groin wound is nearly closed. Can I get a hallelujah? The Medihoney is pretty amazing.
• The left thigh scars are pristine. Still lumpy, but they will flatten with time. The important part is it's all CLOSED.
• The right groin opening is remarkably smaller, but it's behind in healing compared to the left one as it was much bigger to start with.
• The right thigh incision ended up opening about halfway down from the open groin, so it's open from my groin to about 8 inches down between the two wounds. The 6 inches below that is closed.
• Still can't wear underwear because of the groin wounds and in compression 24 hours a day to hold the bandaging in place.
• I ended up with 5 openings around my waist, the largest being over 2" x 1.5". You could yodel into it and get an echo back, but I'm assured they all will close eventually. They are all getting treated with Medihoney and seem to be doing well. It's like watching paint dry to grow in a hole, so I can't see the progress yet, but at least I don't see them getting worse.
• Still having to wear the poise pads around my waist and up and down the thighs/groin as long as I have open wounds slathered in sticky honey. So no pictures of my progress as I look padded with diapers. Because I am.
• My belly button looks fine, but still has a big scab on the bottom that I'm leaving alone for now.
• I can't say I've had a lot of swelling. I look a little poochy in the lower belly which I guess is swelling, but it so beats a roll, it doesn't bug me.
• I still can't take a full shower, but I can shower from my groin down, wash my hair with the detachable showerhead, and sponge bathe everywhere in between. I can't le****er get into the holes. That's been the hardest part, but I'm afraid I've just gotten used to it.

So that's where I stand. I can move a lot better, drive, and walk the dog with something called a gogostick from Amazon since I can't fully bend to reach the ground to clean up after him. You attach a bag to it and can scoop while standing. Mentally I don't cry about it anymore. I'm more resigned to being one of the unlucky ones with complications. I do really worry about one day doing my arms for fear of going through this again. But I'm nowhere near thinking about that yet.

So glad that things are healing and that nothing more is opening. I've never heard of Medihoney but really glad it is helping. I'm sure it feels great to be out and more independent. So proud of your progress!

Thanks, Janet! It's pretty cool stuff. But sticky!

I'm glad for you that you've turned a corner. "Manuka" honey is a game changer!! I've seen almost miraculous healing of wounds when this product is used.

Please keep the updates coming!

Thank you, Pat! I just wish they sold it in bigger tubes - one lasts just under a week with all my holes!

Thank you also for the recommendation to see a wound specialist. I asked my surgeon if I would benefit from it and he said if it made me feel any better, he is actually the director of several wound care clinics in southern California so the treatment he is giving me is exactly what I'd get there. He also said he'd had some patients who went with other wound care centers when they ran into similar healing issues as mine and were subjected to unnecessary surgeries and skin grafts when their wounds would have healed nicely on their own eventually with his care. His concern is that many wound care clinics don't understand plastic surgery wound healing and go overboard with treatments. Not sure how widespread that is, but I do trust him. But I think if I hadn't stopped splitting or if he wasn't so incredibly responsive I would have given anything a try!

You know I was thinking about the issues you have had with healing. Maybe having such extensive surgery at the same time was just too much for your body to handle? Maybe it would have been better to do the LBL alone and your thighs separately? I know most of us group as much PS together as possible to save $, but maybe it can be too much stress for the body. I wonder what surgeons would say about that... I will ask mine when I see him late this summer if I remember.

Maybe it was. Worth asking! He seemed quite sure it was safe to do all at once and from a surgery standpoint I was fine, but maybe I just didn't have the reserves to heal from it all at once.

Hi there!
I found your post on a google search because I just had a thigh lift done and both sides have opened on the groin area. Did you use the medihoney patches on it?
my doctor told me to use silvasorb but I don't see any results from that.

Thank You ??