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Skin around my 7 month Incision
I'm new to this so I guess I'll get right to the point. I'm a 22 year old male, weigh roughly 350 lbs. I broke my fibula on March 9th, 2009 while playing Hacki Sack. I had no insurance so this whole ordeal was rough from the get go. Finally found a orthopedic doctor who would see me even though my lack of insurance. He stated that I would need surgery, and I had a metal plate and 6 screws I believe put into my leg. 1 also being directly through my ankle.
For the beginning of the whole ordeal my incision seemed to be healing nicely. About 3 weeks into it, it started looking odd and going between colors of green and yellow, so we went to my orthopedic doctor. He kept throwing me on different antibiotics, telling me to just wash it with soap and then leave it dry/unwrapped throughout the day, stating I could possibly wrap it at night when I went to sleep with Neosporin.
After two months, I woke up one morning and it was burning, so we rushed to the Patient First near my house. They gave me a shot of antibiotics, stating it was infected, terribly infected, and that she would recommend me going to a wound care center. I ran it over with my doctor, and I was put into wound care the next day.
Over the last 5~ months, I've been going to wound care, but my incision has had problems healing. Every visit they clean it out with a scalpel, and in the beginning had to continually cut the edges because they were curving inward. The whole process has gotten alot better because after all of this time the incision has finally somewhat healed down to a very small area. enough for a 3x3 gauze thing to cover it.
The usual treatment was calmoseptine around the edges, with hydrogel and a brown sticky patch with a very nice adhesive that didn't hurt when taken off. After awhile it wasn't showing much progress so they tried an Aquacel AG dressing instead of the hydrogel, and the burning sensation went away. They also used a compression wrap 2 system thing because my leg was massively swollen for about 4 months from my fall/incident. And also, I apologize for my lack of knowledge on the medical supplies. Whenever I had the hydrogel applied to my incision, it would burn constantly and nonstop until it was taken off. They kept stating that I needed to have it on because it was the only thing they could recommend for my incision. They have tried multiple types of hydrogels but yet every time it is applied I have a burning uncontrollable pain that is only cured from cold water or ice from my freezer. Like running my foot under cold water relieves the pain immediately. I dunno if its an allergy to the hydrogel or what.
I guess my biggest worry is lately, it's not even my incision that hurts, but the skin around it. It has become red, and usually feels hot. They have switched me to using a new Collagen Microscaffold wound dressing, but It still hurts. I have recently applied calmoseptine in hopes to heal the rash around my incision. It still constantly has a sharp pain to it, I dunno if its a rash or the skin is sore or what. I dunno what answers I'm trying to get, all I know is I'm a 22 year old who still has physical therapy to go through, because I've only been walking for about 3 weeks now. With my weight, where my incision was, and the damage to my foot, I've been limited on when I could start walking. I guess I just wanna know if there is any significance to this rash, and if there is anything I can do about it, because the wound care center shrugs it off.
I'm thinking it's either sensitivity to the brown bandage they use, with the sticky adhesive. Or the hydrogel that they recently applied just to try it, (But it's still hurting and those things havent been applied in atleast 48 hours) Or possibly just irritation from new skin growing and being stressed out. Any information whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.
-Trey
For the beginning of the whole ordeal my incision seemed to be healing nicely. About 3 weeks into it, it started looking odd and going between colors of green and yellow, so we went to my orthopedic doctor. He kept throwing me on different antibiotics, telling me to just wash it with soap and then leave it dry/unwrapped throughout the day, stating I could possibly wrap it at night when I went to sleep with Neosporin.
After two months, I woke up one morning and it was burning, so we rushed to the Patient First near my house. They gave me a shot of antibiotics, stating it was infected, terribly infected, and that she would recommend me going to a wound care center. I ran it over with my doctor, and I was put into wound care the next day.
Over the last 5~ months, I've been going to wound care, but my incision has had problems healing. Every visit they clean it out with a scalpel, and in the beginning had to continually cut the edges because they were curving inward. The whole process has gotten alot better because after all of this time the incision has finally somewhat healed down to a very small area. enough for a 3x3 gauze thing to cover it.
The usual treatment was calmoseptine around the edges, with hydrogel and a brown sticky patch with a very nice adhesive that didn't hurt when taken off. After awhile it wasn't showing much progress so they tried an Aquacel AG dressing instead of the hydrogel, and the burning sensation went away. They also used a compression wrap 2 system thing because my leg was massively swollen for about 4 months from my fall/incident. And also, I apologize for my lack of knowledge on the medical supplies. Whenever I had the hydrogel applied to my incision, it would burn constantly and nonstop until it was taken off. They kept stating that I needed to have it on because it was the only thing they could recommend for my incision. They have tried multiple types of hydrogels but yet every time it is applied I have a burning uncontrollable pain that is only cured from cold water or ice from my freezer. Like running my foot under cold water relieves the pain immediately. I dunno if its an allergy to the hydrogel or what.
I guess my biggest worry is lately, it's not even my incision that hurts, but the skin around it. It has become red, and usually feels hot. They have switched me to using a new Collagen Microscaffold wound dressing, but It still hurts. I have recently applied calmoseptine in hopes to heal the rash around my incision. It still constantly has a sharp pain to it, I dunno if its a rash or the skin is sore or what. I dunno what answers I'm trying to get, all I know is I'm a 22 year old who still has physical therapy to go through, because I've only been walking for about 3 weeks now. With my weight, where my incision was, and the damage to my foot, I've been limited on when I could start walking. I guess I just wanna know if there is any significance to this rash, and if there is anything I can do about it, because the wound care center shrugs it off.
I'm thinking it's either sensitivity to the brown bandage they use, with the sticky adhesive. Or the hydrogel that they recently applied just to try it, (But it's still hurting and those things havent been applied in atleast 48 hours) Or possibly just irritation from new skin growing and being stressed out. Any information whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.
-Trey
Forgive me, allow me elaborate. The skin is only warm when the hydrogel is applied, or when the brown squared adhesive bandage is on. Keep in mind this incision/wound is looked at every week by wound care professionals, just none can explain why it's in so much pain. Like right now it's not hot, but it's still red, and very much in pain. It's limiting my movement/walking capabilities, it even hurts to just bend my ankle.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello,
Since the skin around the wound is red and warm, so it is a clear cut sign of infection. You need topical as well as oral antibiotics to combat the infection. In addition, oral anti inflammatory drugs and pain killers are also needed. My advice would be to consult a dermatologist.
Hope it helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing or in case you have any additional doubts. Kind regards.
Since the skin around the wound is red and warm, so it is a clear cut sign of infection. You need topical as well as oral antibiotics to combat the infection. In addition, oral anti inflammatory drugs and pain killers are also needed. My advice would be to consult a dermatologist.
Hope it helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing or in case you have any additional doubts. Kind regards.
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