Sudden seroma
Hi, I did my double mastectomy on June 5 and my doctor chose not to insert drains. Three days later, seroma got very bad. I’m in a place where access to health care is not great. I'm supposed to see the surgeon in one month. Any tips, reassurance, info to share about this matter. I would love to get rid of it without aspiration it possible. Thank you.
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Hi @drepop, Seromas often go away on their own over time but one that quickly enlarges should be evaluated by a medical professional. Not treating a problematic seroma can lead to infection, suture strain and seroma recurrence. In my experience doctors will not touch another doctor’s surgery. If the surgeon has a PA or NP working for them they could probably treat it if necessary. I understand the difficulties of accessing healthcare in a rural area. After a couple of days of unreturned phone calls (during holiday season) I ended up traveling to the ER of the hospital where I had thyroid surgery since the hospital also bears responsibility for patient outcomes. They called in someone associated with the surgeon’s office who decided that aspiration was needed. Aspiration was pretty much painless. I needed weekly sessions for a couple of months. It’s worth the hassle to have a good surgical outcome. All the best.
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Hi @maggie15, thank you so much for your message. I did so much research and I found this article (https://academic.oup.com/asj/article/42/5/497/6430785) that talks about more concrete stuff other than ice packs and shoulder mobilization. Last night, I decided to do a gauze wrap, soft to medium compression (a bit like the surgeon does for his patients using a foam wrap before the compression garnement mentionned in this medical article) before adding the mastectomy bra. I also drank a heavily infused diuretic tea before going to sleep. This morning I saw significant improvement in the skin flap that had cancer (seroma is half the size in this one versus the skin flap that had no cancer that became in 3 days as big as my breast size before the mastectomy). In this one, the accumulation of fluid looks at least stabilized whereas yesterday it keep inflating with seroma. I still did not have a chance to talk to my medical team so this initiative was not medically approved.
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