Post-operational wound

[Eldarion]

My mother (52) was diagnosed with anal cancer (they said it was type of melanoma) and later had an operation. Lower part of her colon was removed and she has a colostoma now. It's more than two months after her operation and wound haven't healed yet, and she still has severe pain due to it. Wound is regulary cleaned, and surgeon removed fibrine from the wound few times, and yet it still isn't healed.
Does anybody has some expirience with such situations?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hi,

You see there can be several reasons for non healing of the colostomy wound and some of these are local infection, hypoxia (poor blood supply and thus oxygen supply to the skin and adjoining area), trauma, presence of foreign bodies, or systemic problems such as diabetes mellitus, malnutrition, immunodeficiency, or medications (like steroids). These are the most common reasons. I am sure the treating surgeon would have looked into them.

I would suggest you to take the opinion of a gastrointestinal surgeon/plastic surgeon who may offer options to heal the wound like skin grafting etc.

I hope that helped. Please do keep me posted.

Best Regards.