Surgery to repair seroma

Has anyone ever has surgery to repair a seroma that won't resolve? I'd like to know what to expect. I'll be 19 weeks post-op on Friday and we've tried everything to get rid of this seroma and nothing has worked. Last Friday I finished 5 weeks of intense sclerotherapy and had my drain pulled when I was draining less than 15cc's of fluid for 5 days straight. We thought it was gone. Saturday, the fluid started to build up again and yesterday I had to have it aspirated. I'm going on vacation to Mexico in 3 weeks so there isn't time to have surgery before my trip so I will be aspirated twice a wee****il then. After I return, I will have surgery to repair the seroma once and for all. I'm definately running out of patience! 19 weeks is a long time to be wearing compression garments and way to long to be dealing with drains! Tammy 285/127/? 109% EWL BMI 21.8

Tammy, what kind of surgery has resulted in your seroma? I have one that won't resolve from brachioplasty. Maureen

I had a belt lipectomy and the seroma is in my lower back.

I don't know if you're going to want to hear this - but yes, I've had two surgeries due to seromas. My tummy tuck resulted in a football size seroma (he drained 400-800ccs per week) so when I had my thigh lift he opened up my tummy incision and took it out. That resolved nicely. My thigh lift resulted in several small seromas (ping pong ball size up to soft ball size) and so I had another surgery just for that. He took out three seromas I believe. Sad news is - I have three more in the same spot. They are all small - golf ball size; but at this point I'm not inclined to have ANOTHER surgery if that isn't going to work. My thigh lift was a year ago, had the seroma surgery 6 months later. For now I'm just going to wait and see. Best of luck to you! carol

Did you have drains reinserted, frequent aspirations, or sclerotherapy before surgery?

In both cases I just went back in the office to have the seromas aspirated every 7-10 days. After my thigh lift we left the drains in for about six weeks as I recall, which I hated, but we were trying to beat the darn thing - didn't work. I have read about the 'glue' somewhere online. If you search out seromas you will find some articles about them, although the ones I found most infomative referred to breast cancer patients or vets! LOL carol

Seromas are certainly a part of PS after bariatrics, and I would say 20% of my patients develop one. I have operated on 1 out of the last 50 body lifts I have done. Usually they can be managed with aspiration or re-insertion of a drain. I choose to agressively drain them if they are present during the first 2-3 weeks, before they develop a lining called a pseudobursa. After that, they are hard to get rid of. I have an ultrasound machine in the office so I can find them early on before they form a "waterbed." Using "glue" made from your own blood (platelet rich plasma) may also be a new option to avoid suregry...it can be done through a small opening in the original scar and might save a trip to the O.R.

Thanks for responding. My seroma developed as soon as my last drain was removed and it was palpable within 2 days. I had a drain reinserted 3 days after the seroma developed at 3 weeks post-op and doxycycline sclerotherapy was done for 2 weeks until the drain became blocked and had to be removed. That was followed with aspirations 2-3 times per wee****il 5 weeks ago when a more aggressive 3 agent sclerotherapy procedure was started at the U of MN's Interventional Radiology dept. The seroma pocket has become smaller but my body will not absorb the fluid that is still being produced. I'd be interested in more information on the "glue" made from your own blood that you mentioned. I have not heard mention of that before. Where can I get more information on this?

I had a seroma on my arm that just wouldn't go away. I had it drained numerous times. Luckily I was scheduled to be under anesthesia for a separate plastic surgery procedure on my thighs, so the the doctor took the opportunity to re-open a section of the arm and clean it all out. The seroma never came back after that. -- Jim F.