I would like more information about Surgery for Hidradenitis Suppurativa?

I'm scheduled for a surgery to remove HS from my left neck. How long did recovery take and has anyone else had this on the back of the neck?

Hey there I have had HS removal from my neck and my surgeon had no idea it could even grow back there! However, recovery did not take long, should just be stiched up or left open with applying a dressing to heal properly. My neck surgery was the last HS surgery before starting Humira. I would highly recommend looking into Humira if your flare ups continue! Since that surgery and taking Humira I have had zero problems! Knock on wood! I hope this helps, good luck in surgery! God Bless.

Dang you can get it there too ???!!

I just had the surgery done 2 weeks ago and I've never been in so much pain in my life. Mine was in my right groin and the incision is 6 in Long the stitches keep coming out and they keep putting them back in. Nothing I do alleviates the pain I hope it only gets better. They had to cut all the way down into my muscle. I'd like to get somewhere so that I can help people that are facing the surgery so that they know what to expect because I did not.

Hi I'm new here to but I have had hs since I was 13. And was miss diagnosed till I was 40. I'm 46. I had surgery at 40 where the surgeon only removed the infected sweat glands of my arm pit. This was done the conventional way with drainage and stitches. Before I had fully healed I had a new growth in the same arm just mm from the incision. 3 years ago with a new surgeon I had the other arm done, he removed all sweat glands within the armpit with drain tube and stitches. I encountered infection immediately from that surgery and had to have the stitches removed and my body had to grow it's own skin in place. Not wanting to scare u after the stitches were removed I had minimal pain and have healed so nicely and with no outbreak that I am currently doing my right arm with no grafts, stitches or drainage tubes. I'm excited about this as I don't have 2 open wounds ( like a graft) and it pretty much feels like the healing of a really bad skin scrape.

I don't know how to send u a picture but it is definitely a nice heal scar, smooth done this way if while healing dressing is done correctly to keep skin from puckering.

On the side note I'm from Canada and had to convince a doctor to go this route. As they have all believed stitches or grafts are the only way to go.

Good luck to you.

Hi, may I know if the healing is very painful?

How are you now

Hello,

My daughter's left armpit was done in July. We didn't do tubes or stitching. The wound is healing nicely and is shrinking in size everyday. She has recently had the peri-anal surgery a few weeks ago it's a large open wound but it's healing slowly and I'm sure in a couple months I will have another great update. She still requires her right axilla to be excised. Our surgeon wants her body to heal and close those wounds naturally before we entertain any reconstructive or grafts. I'm lifting everyone who has been afflicted by this horrible disease. 

Yes this disease is horrible I'm so glad I finally found out what it is it took over 10 years to find out what it was 

I feel the same as you so happy to have my left arm pain/ odor free and am excitedly waiting for the right to be the same. In answer to your question the other times I had them stitched and a drain the healing time depends on the severity of the incision, depth they were . On average 1-1/2 months.

I have a question ,where are you from and have you ever heard of a peko bandage, it's a vacuum bandage the draws the drainage into it and stimulates tissue for healing. It's a small motor and quite comfortable to use. Has almost cut my healing time in half for the first arm and seems to be doing the same with this open healing wound under my right arm.

We live in Seattle WA.  I haven't heard of that kind of bandage. I plan to research it. This HS disease really needs to be on a national medical platform.  Im keeping a digital diary of my daughters journey. I'm hopeful she's willing to share her story so more people can be diagnosed correctly and have access to support groups and cutting edge technology to improve the quality of Life for all affected by this..

I'm photo documenting this arm also as I truly believe this is as close to a cure as we have.

The bandage is Pico by Smith& nephew.

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Some research on this bandage has it at very expensive and the negative pressure unit goes dead after 7 days. Please elaborate on your experience with this bandage. It does sound very positive in creating faster healing.

I'm from Saskatchewan, Canada so never had thought of the cost as it's covered for me. But after I had posted the question to Deborah I looked into it. Wow ya that's really expensive. But overall I'd be pushing or looking into if my private coverage would cover the cost. I believe it had cut down my healing time by half.

I have a 4 1/2 inch by 2 1/2 by approximately 1/8 inch deep incision done on September 7/2017. I was able to start using the pico last week Sept. 14 and at my bandage change on Sept. 18 I have new skin starting to form on the edges. The incision is kept clean and clear of sludge ( old drainage) .

3 years ago with my left arm I had been told it would take 6 months at least to heal over completely but after starting the pick it only took 4 months. And my scar is smooth and have been clear of cysts since. That incision was 4 by 3 and 1/2 inch deep when I started with the bandage.

And yes it does die after 7 days. The nurses here have experimented to see if it would last longer, it lasted 8 days. This is set this way I believe because it is not beneficial to leave any bandage on for longer as it can cause bacteria to form. Just my own belief.

I think the unit dieing after 7 days has more  to do with greed than anything  else. It would be easy to make the unit with replaceable batteries. Please do your research: It has been proven many times over and has been standard practice for sometime that a wound kept properly covered heals much faster and is prone to less chance of infection than one left open.  Of course changing the dressings on a regular basis is part of the keeping-it-covered regimen.

I am glad to hear you are healing so well👍🌟!!

Oh I definitely agree greed is a big part of it. And I am a nurse and know that people will if possible leave bandages on much longer then they should especially if they are expensive ones. So along with the greed this is a way to make sure it does get changed regularly. I have seen people leave a bandage on for up to a month because it was to expensive to get to the doctor to change it. She had so much sludge built up that they had to do surgery to remove it. So I believe it is a combination as even after a week there is little to no smell from the drainage in the bandage also no leakage if full.

I got both of my arms done at one time the went from one side of the arm pit and cut all the way to the other side I was doing pretty good til I busted my stitches open on my right side now I'm currently waiting on Monday to get here so I can go get it re stitched back up 

Hi Deborah,

I will be going for surgery on my peri anal area in 2 weeks. I worried of the pain and healing time as I have to travel in December. Do you think its safe to do it now since I have travel plans? My doctor said it would take around 2 weeks to heal. However, Im not convinced as it is a deep wound and a big area. Also, does your daughter experience pain when going to the toilet? 

I had this done 2 weeks ago and my groin. My doctor told me that I wouldn't need to miss any work and that has proved to be false. This is by far the most painful surgery I've ever had and I've had several for other issues. And the stitches will come out if you don't rest. I've had to have it ready Stitch because all of the stitches came out. It was definitely necessary but make sure you take a lot of time to rest riding in a car driving or all very uncomfortable and put you at risk for the stitches to come out. I had my HS for two years before I decided on surgery but it took them a long time to figure out what it was. They check me for herpes which it wasn't that and I went through months of steroid and cortisone shots which only kept it settled down for a week or two at tops.

Going to the bathroom does hurt me just because it feels like the stitches are trying to rip

Hello, 

My daughter had a catheter after her peri-anal excision. It was removed after 3-4 days she was really tender immediately after the surgery but now a month and a half later she’s doing good. She showers and is able to actually wash her wound everyday before dressing change. She has one more surgery her right armpit. She’s recovering nicely without stitches or tubes. Her l armpit has shrunken to a very small wound.

How did her surgery go ?? And I may need it done I'm in alot of pain an i don't want 'recurring boils

Hi! For me, the surgery went well and I needed a month to completely heal. For my case, I had a lot of bed rest as I did not want the stitches to rip. But I didnt feel much pain during the healing period. 

Thank you so much I'm having a hard time getting a dermotolist to even look at my skin these boils really hurt