Surgical Staples Left In

[Cagney2712]

This may be a strange question,  but I'm wondering if anyone has had any of their surgical staples accidently left in??  I had surgery on Feb 5th (TAH/BSO) for a borderline complex cyst, and all of my staples were removed 10 days later (or so I thought).  They began the surgery as a laparoscopy, so an incision was made right into my belly button. When they had to switch to a laparotomy, the gyn/oncoloist basically just started at where the umbilical incision was, and lengthened it.  My recovery has been completely uneventful; no problems at all, and certainly easier than I had anticipated.  For the past few weeks though, the area around my belly button has been VERY itchy. I had expected some itchiness, so figured it was normal. I also noticed sort of a "pinching" feeling if I rubbed against anything.  This evening, I saw a tiny bit of dried blood inside my belly button. I thought perhaps it was from all the scratching I was doing. But, when I grabbed a mirror for a closer look, I discovered that 2 or 3 surgical staples were still there!! I am a bit full-figured, so I admit that staples inside my belly button wouldn't be obvious. But since I've been back to the doctors twice now for follow-ups and to have my incision checked, I can't believe no one noticed .

Of course, my doctors office was closed by the time I called, so I have to wait till tomorrow to talk to them.  Obviously, the staples need to come out NOW, and of course I suspect it is probably going to hurt like heck to have them taken out some 8 weeks after the surgery.   Has anyone had anything like this happen??? I'm wondering what sort of problems could have happened if I hadn't discovered them and they stayed there for even longer??!!  

[vonharter]

I, too, have been having abdominal pain. In 1992, I had a C-Section. In 1993, I had my right ovary removed through a laparotomy. In 1994, I had another C-Section. In 2004, I had a total abdominal hysterectomy. Over the past two years, I have had increasing pain in my right abdominal region. After many tests and a colonoscopy last month, I finally had a laparoscopy to check for adhesions (scar tissue). They found my left ovary was stuck to my abdomen through adhesions, causing "referred pain" to my right side. My right side looks clean, but I have staples! I never knew I had staples and have NO IDEA which of these many surgeries left these staples. I think they are from the 1993 surgery (removal of ovary). The problem is that after this recent surgery I am still having right side pain. I would like to know if anyone has heard of staples causing muscle or nerve damage? Can they pull or tear the muscles??? I am now being sent to a neurologist for a muscle/nerve study.

[pebbles143bmd]

20 years ago...after having my daughter I developed a very rare kidney infection caused by a flu virus. It created a pocket of infection on the side of my kidney and was slowly "eating" away at the organ. They had to remove it and when they did they left a very large scar across the right side of my body. They literally cut me in half to get it out. A few years later I had to have an x-ray due to acid reflux issues. They wanted to see if my stomach looked normal and when they showed me the x-ray I almost fainted! There had to be at least thirty of these little white lines covering up the area near my stomach. They couldn't get a clear enough picture of my stomach to tell anything and the doctor assured me that the staples wouldn't hurt me, but now that I've heard about the possibility of them dislodging and traveling through my body I am really scared.  I have no pain but ever since the surgery 20 years ago...the skin surface on my right side is completely numb. I can stick myself with a pin and not feel it until it reaches a certain depth. Could having an MRI possibly dislodge them? Would it pull on them and cause pain or worse, cause internal bleeding?

Lyn Johnson

[Lila16]

I was a burns patient around 14 years ago. Generally skins is grafted onto burned areas with staples. They remove all the staples during sessions where they take off the bandages for the first time. I went to the chiropractor about 7 years ago to find that in a particularly messy skin graft (apparently it had been done by interns) there were around 50 surgical staples embedded in my skin, apparently swallowed up. I am a little concerned as I have started to experience some chest pains with can affect my breathing for short periods of time and I am considering getting an X-ray to see if they have moved.

[Katey582]

Im 16 and when I was at the end of my freshman year I was a passenger in a car and I  got in a severe car accident, my foot got completely degloved and ever since then I have had severe pain when I walk and I showed the doctors where all the pain was and they decided not to tell me they accidentally left 30-35 staples in my foot and the skin is completely grown back over and it's causing a ton of pain and they refuse to move them along with every other doctor in my state because they are all buddies, so I actually have to go out of state to see if anyone is willing to remove them and make all this pain go away. All they want to do in the state I live in is give me a permanent nerve block, as opposed to just oh I don't know FIX THE DARN PROBLEM!

[skysmommy82409]

hey guys i had a appendectomy done in 08 and have chronic pelvic pain so they did a diagnostic laproscopic exam to find out i know have staples inbedded in my uterus and my ovaries, n the dr said it would do more harm to take them out then to keep them in. i couldnt believe it! i have been having this pain for over a year and she didnt see why she should pull the staples out. anyone heard of this?  please email me at ***@**** i would really like to know what else i could do, i would think if i ever got pregnant again that the stiches in their would stretch and tear my uterus but i could be wrong?! please help.  thanks

[lr16]

I had a thymic surgery and wasn't aware that I had staples in there I would think the doctor would tell you this I found out by having alot of pain and having a through xray and ultrasound but I had no idea i wasn't aware of this at all.  this is also close to your heart and lungs etc. I'm sure it will be alright but I do still get alot of pain in that area.  They will be left there forever so ther is not much more I can do.