6 weeks after laparoscopy...

[marychu]

I had an op about 6 weeks ago now to diagnose endometriosis. They found some and removed it. Now, this far down the line, I still have swelling around the incision site (the one above my left ovary) and about a week ago it developed a fair sized purpley bruise which is pretty sore - I've always heard healing after keyhole surgery is fairly quick and simple - has anyone else had such a long healing process?

[didymus]

Brusing from surgery can take some time to clear - and go all shades of colour in the process. However, you shouldn't really be developing fresh bruises as a result of the surgery now. If you are sure you haven't knocked yourself I would go and get this checked out. It's not completely unheard of to develop endo in the skin around the incision point - though not so common that you hear about it a lot. Have you had a period since your surgery?

[marychu in reply to didymus]

Thank you! I honestly can't be totally sure I haven't bumped into something and not realised, I am pretty clumsy, but it's still very painful. I've had continuous bleeding since my surgery unfortunately - I had the coil fitted at the same time which may have something to do with it - but I only had the surgery as all other main methods of contraception had already failed to stop me having a continuous period (various pills, the implant, both together, etc) - I think I need a cork.

My doctors are probably sick of seeing me by now, but if it hasn't got any better in a few days I'll go back... I am a bit concerned I could have developed some endo there as I've had a huge amount of stabby endo pain recently - where I never had any before... Is there any way they can test for it?

[Jdgirl030]

You should have quite neat looking excision scars after 6 weeks. I would definitely seek an examination just to put your mind at ease. Are you sure it is bruising? Sometimes new scar tissue can be purple in colour which fades over time. Exposure to the sun can make this worse.

[didymus]

The only way they could check would be to take a tissue sample.

Several months after one of my ops, I did develop a blueish lump type thing near one of my scars (laparotomy). It was tender to touch and from memory was there for about 6 months. It was about the size of a little fingernail. To be honest, I never got round to getting it checked - probably should have. Part of me assumed it might be a small area of cutaneous endo - but I had so much else going on at the time healthwise I just kept forgetting to mention it to my doctors in discussions. It disappeared eventually.