I had my first laparoscopy last week and I am recovering well.
I am just a little worried about my wounds and how I should look after them. When I left the hospital, the nurses didn’t give me any advice about this.
On Saturday, I went to my practice nurse who cleaned the wounds and changed the dressings for me.
She told me to take the dressing off on Wednesday and to leave them to dry.
My worry is should I clean them with anything else than hot water? Should I put back a dressing when I am going back to work and wear more tights clothing?
Sorry it does seem like a silly post but I never had a surgery before and I want to avoid an infection.
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It's not a silly post, it seems we're kind of just expected to know what to do!
Taking the dressings off is fine. Obviously if you think the incisions are going to catch on clothes then perhaps still cover but use a normal plaster so the air still gets through, then remove at night when you know it won't catch.
You can have showers / baths as normal and pat dry your incisions.
I didn't clean my incisions as they were glued, so they keep themselves clean. My belly button one was stitched and so required a bit of cleaning (usual place for infections). If you have any stitched ones get some colloidal silver (amazon) or tea tree (diluted) or witch hazel (diluted) and gently apply to incisions then leave to dry. Repeat this twice a day until a good scab has formed, then repeat again should scab come off, until new pink skin grows. All of these are natural antibacterials so will help healing and prevent infection. I found creams like savlon aren't any good because they don't dry instead they dissolve the scab making it all weepy again, so I don't use this for any cuts.
If you have an innie belly button and an incision in there: I found (a tried and tested method twice) to get it to heal. Cut out a bit of non adhesive dressing, the stuff inside plasters, usually in first aid kits - about 1cm by half a cm, roll up so it can fit comfortably in your belly button. Put a bit of any of the above antibacterials on it, this will help healing, while the dressing allows air to get into the incisions, and prevent infection. Cover belly button with a dressing if you think the rolled up bit will fall out. Change the rolled up bit twice a day, repeat until the rolled up bit has no gunky stuff on it. If it doesn't come out easily use the same stuff you've used previously to wet it - then wait 5 mins to pull it out.
Just don't rub any of your incisions, try to keep oils and moisturisers off them until a scab has formed. I used bio oil on mine to reduce scarring once the scab had formed.
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