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Perianal abscess surgery

Posted , 3 users are following.

tulip78
tulip78

I had surgery for the drainage of a perianal abscess. It was a large abscess which was extremely painful. I was admitted to hospital as an emergency and had surgery to drain the abscess. The wound has been left open to heal and I have been attending the hospital on a daily basis to have the wound packed and the dressing changed. It is now 4 weeks and on my appointment today the nurse told me although it is almost healed on the outside, there is still a 2cm depth inside the wound and that the outside is healing faster than the inside. She said if the wound closes too early I will be left with a pocket which could cause the abscess to re-occur. She called a consultant who examined my wound (ouch) and he said I will have to come in for further surgery under anaesthetic to open the wound so packing can be inserted and also to examine the wound to check for 'tracking'. Is this necessary? Will it damage my wound further? Is packing slowing the healing process? Why is it being packed when some surgeons don't pack the wound?

I'm devastated as I thought I was doing well.

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • gill09
    gill09 tulip78

    Posted

    My son's wound wasn't packed properly first time and he got more infection and it tracked, made another sinus or channel of infection. The surgeon he has now said that it's really important to pack daily and carefully making sure sides don't meet or it heals over. I'm packing it now, cleaning it with cotton buds and using AquacelAG. The silver helps stop contamination. It's definitely better this time. Good luck
  • mara60262
    mara60262 tulip78

    Posted

    I had this surgery too. Packing it is the best thing that can be done. It will help the wound from getting infected. If you could Get the VAC machine it would be great. Its a machine that is put on a dressing, it suctions the fluids. The dressing must be put on the wound and then the machine is inserted on the dressing. The silver dressing is one of the best.

    Best wishes.

    • tulip78
      tulip78 mara60262

      Posted

      Thanks for your reply. Such an embarrasing problem, can't wait until it's healed, scared of more surgery though incase it makes things worse, don't really want them meddling or causing damage to the wound as it seems to have no infection at the moment,
    • gill09
      gill09 tulip78

      Posted

      It's awful, my son got this at 18 and due to botched ops and our ignorance of the pitfalls we are now 5 yrs down the line. I would say be really vocal with docs and find out exactly what they plan and ask loads of questions. If u could get a family member to do cleaning and packing rather than nurses? I have been rigorous in cleaning packing carefully and it seems to work at moment. Must be so clean tho cos really easily infected, my son had an abscess inside that no one cd see. Not trying to scaremonger but just say that I wish we had both made much more of a fuss. I've ended up paying privately now in London but amazing surgeon . All the best
    • tulip78
      tulip78 gill09

      Posted

      Thanks so much for your help. Much appreciated. I've been mortified about the whole thing. So many docs and nurses fiddling in that area.
    • mara60262
      mara60262 tulip78

      Posted

      Everything will turn out great! Always be positive. Being positive helps with the recovery. 😄
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