Seroma non infection
Hello everyone. It has been a while since I was on here. But I have questions and need your help and I know this entire community is amazing. I was here everyday during chemo and all my treatments.
I had to have an implant removed last year due to infection. Fast forward to now and I had another tissue expander exchange on Jan 20 of this year. So 7 ish weeks ago.
I developed a seroma that was drained once, and cultured and it was not infected, and my PS pulled a stitch out at that time too. Again fast forward to today.
I have again developed the same seroma but this time it leaks out a tiny tiny hole where the stitch was pulled.
My surgeon said it should heal it might just take a while. Like a couple of months since I was radiated on that side too.
The he calls today wanting to do surgery. I told him no. That I would agree to drain it again, and I would agree to watching and waiting. Again it’s not infected.
I have had 9 surgeries. I won’t get into all that. But to me the smart thing to do since it is not infection and it doesn’t hurt and fairly small and the hole is like less than a mm. We can afford to wait a bit. I really do not want another surgery.
And from just some of what I
Have read on here most didn’t have to with seromas.
please if you have had anything like this please tell me what your surgeon did?
I need some not only reassurance but just support from my fellow sisters!
Love to all
Lover of Jesus
Comments
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Hi @loverofjesus, It sounds like you have had a tough time with nine(!) surgeries. I dealt with a seroma after a drain was removed too early after a thyroidectomy. A plastic surgery resident aspirated it every four weeks for six months until it finally healed. She told me that over time some seromas can develop a hard fibrous exterior or become calcified requiring surgical removal. She said that surgery wouldn’t be a big deal in my situation but is a complication that can cause implant loss in breast surgery. I never asked about that since it was unrelated to my thyroid but you might want to ask your surgeon what his concerns are. You mentioned that you had radiation on that side. I have had multiple problems with fibrosis caused by radiation so that might be the issue. I hope you heal and can finally move on from this surgical ordeal.
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I had left side mastectomy Jan 20th I chose to remain flat. Now I wish I would have had a double but too late. Really hard being lop sided. 21 yrs ago I had breast cancer with lumpectomy, radiation and was shocked when it had returned. My drain malfunctioned and removed. The surgeon has drained me every week for sarcoma since surgery. Last time was Mar 9 but now again I am retaining fluid again but not as much. I was wondering what complications you can have due to this happening. More importantly signs to look for as not to have even more issues later on.
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I had dmx on Sept 30/25. Previous cancer on right side in 2019. Lumpectomy, radiation and chemo. I had implants and had to have them removed almost 3 years ago. The right side was hardening and started to hurt. Felt great after that. My new oncologist did genetics testing beg of 2025 and I tested positive for a newer gene mutation called PALB2 with a 60% chance of cancer returning. I opted for reconstruction so had TEs put in. At 8 weeks the right side got infected and I ended up in the hospital for 4 days on strong IV antibiotics. My breast was pretty swollen too. Went home on more antibiotics and days later the stitches started to ooze. Had to remove the TE on that side. Then about a week and a half later I noticed more swelling. PS removed 4 syringes of Seroma fluid. Felt better but a couple days after that I had a lot of redness and swelling and called the doctor who said to go back to hospital. Thought I might need a drain on that side. They used an ultrasound but said not much seroma fluid and no room for the drain. They saw a hemotoma but said the body would absorb that. Said it was bad inflammation so went home a day later. Apparently it is all due to the radiation. That was my only issue with seroma fluid. Doctor said he wanted to do fat grafting on the right side but needed everything to heal. Just saw him yesterday and now can’t do fat grafting due to the skin on part of the breast being very hard with scar tissue and not plumping up like the other part of the breast. So he said I need to either do LD flap or SGAP flap surgery on the right side. Can’t do DIEP due to having lipo many years ago. I don’t want the LD flap as I haven’t heard anything good about it and don’t want to lose strength in my back. Trying to do more research on the SGAP flap but struggling to find anyone here that has had it done. I’m so over this. Also, I live in San Diego and PS said to go to MD Anderson in Houston or UCLA or UC San Francisco. They have the best doctors that have done these procedures. Feel like I’m going crazy.
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