I had my mastectomy on the 4th October this year had the implant Ate drained 3 times then it loculated so they decided not to drain any further. Then last week it started to swell and become a little red so my GP started me on antibiotics then when I saw my surgeon on Thursday last week he said afraid it needs to come out, so back down to theatre on Friday however they managed to clean a d flush out the wound and replaced it with a smaller implant to avoid tension. My question is there anything I can. Do to prevent further infection I’m now on oral antibiotics and also have my drain and a pico dressing. Any ladies successfully gone through this ?
Hi Kellie
Sorry that you havent recieved any response yet to your post. You may find it helpful to talk this through with one of our clinical team on our free Helpline, 0808 800 6000. Alternatively you can post this question in our Ask Our Nurses area and one of our team will respond to you there.
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Best wishes
Anna
Digital Community Officer
Hi Kellie, so sorry you have had this awful experience.
I was diagnosed in September 2014 and had mastectomy with immediate implant reconstruction. The wound took a long time to heal and I had to have it aspirated several times because of fluid build up.
I started chemo roughly 6 weeks after op when the wound was almost, but not Italy healed. I had fever, infection, antibiotics twice after 2 chemo rounds so implant had to come out (December 2014).
After chemo I had an expander put in around May 2015 which was filled before my radiotherapy in July.
6ish months later in April/May 2016 I had the expander replaced with a permanent implant. Within 24 hours I had a problem with swelling so back into theatre, surgeon removed the implant, flushed everything out and reinserted it. Everything fine after that.
It’s a long haul, in reality there are always risks but you can get through it. Unfortunately there’s little you can do other than keep the wound scrupulously clean and eat healthily balanced diet to give your body the fuel it needs to heal.
Hope all goes well from now on x