Dressings after laparoscopy

Hi

Please could you let me know when you completely removed your dressings following laparoscopic surgery? I had surgery 6 days ago and I have been changing my dressings but not removed them completely yet.

Thanks

[Florencenightingale]

Hi. I took mine off either side of my abdo about 7 days post op and belly button dressing when my clothes stopped irritating it a few days later. The general rule is a week x

[Hidden in reply to Florencenightingale]

Thanks

[luthien]

Hey, it depends whether you've had glue or stitches.

Glue is already sealed and sterile so that I was advised about 48 hours, and with stitches about 4 days or until they're not weepy. My nurses said it's best to air them as soon as possible so they dry out as the damp warm conditions under plasters can sometimes be a perfect place for infection.

Keep them covered with dressings if they're going to catch on clothes but air them as much as possible, I found at night was best for this. I think they say keep dressings on for 7 days for some because they go on the basis that you may shower every day and thus the incisions can get too wet and open up - I only used dressings during that time (waterproof).

I also used colloidal silver / aloe vera gel / tea tree oil (diluted) to help keep my incision sites clean - as I found savlon kind of dissolves the scab and makes the site weepy again.

[lemon_mint]

Hi sunnydays12345, I had 4 incisions and dissolvable stitches. Ultimately the advice the nurses give you depends on the type of stitches you end up having. For my dissolvable stitches I was told to have a shower on day 3 after laparoscopy whilst keeping the dressings on, then after that remove the dressing and check the stitches - those which look dry - keep without dressings and let them air - apparently a must for those type of stitches for the skin to heal better. Those that still felt slightly wet / weepy - put new dressings on and keep checking every day after shower and change dressings daily. I removed 2 dressings on day three and just cleaned them with water - they had a little bit of dry blood around them. Kept the other 2 on for two more days as one of them was weeping blood slightly and the other one very tender. I was a bit scared to check them first (which is unusual for me as I usually take this things ok but I think the surgery and everything associated with it was just a bit too much). So I just took some time, sat on a bench in my bathroom, had some meditation music on :))) to distract my mind from worrying too much and just took my time, removed each one of them carefully and slowly. Good luck and keep well!

[Hannah_w1990]

They told me to take them off dsy 7 but keep them clean and dry

[LA-B-19]

I had surgery a couple of weeks ago and had dissolvable stitches. I was told to take my dressings off a week post-op.

[Parvez_66]

4 days