Gallstone removal wounds / dressings - help

[Oliviaaaaaaaa]

Hiya,

I had gallbladder surgery Sunday just gone (26th) we are now the end of Wednesday 29th and I haven’t changed my dressings.

where my skin on my belly is lose after having a child I’m worried that perhaps I need to change them? I’ll attach a picture of the one I’m concerned about.
they are all a little tender and sore still but this one is the one at the top of my abdomen so does go into the crease of my stomach when I sit forward if that makes sense? I don’t know if it looks pussy or if it looks yellow and bruised? Suppose I won’t know until I remove the dressings but I’m absolutely terrified to do so.. how do I do it? Do I just remove them and put new dressings on? Clean them? I’m so scared what I’m going to reveal .. please help ☹️

If it was infected you’d have increased pain and redness, heat. The pain with infection is the first bit you notice usually so it’s probably where they cleaned you or bruising.

what were you told regarding the dressings? I had mine glued so dressings I don’t recall at all, possibly removed before I was discharged.

What instructions did they give your for the dressings? I was told to change my every day so I did.

You should have been given instructions.

It's probably just bruising but if you are worried then change the dressing so you can have a look. You should not need to do anything other than remove the old dressing and apply a fresh one unless it is gungy under there. It would make sense to do it at a time when you can get to a doctor or minor injuries clinic or pharmacy for advice if you remove the dressing and are worried by what you see.

Mine were covered with Tegaderm dressings that mean you can have a shower but the dressing part is white so you can see if there is any leaking going on. I had a tiny bit of marking on the dressings for the first few days which they told me was fine but to change dressing every 5 days (I think) or sooner if I did not like the look of them.

I think I just took mine off. After a while it was apparent the stitches were causing the pain and it was a big relief to remove them.

Thank you so much everyone!
I took the dressings off tonight to have a look at them. I think they were causing me more pain cos they were so bulky and uncomfortable tbh! So I took them off. The yellowing is the bruising. And put new dressings on! Fingers crossed all will be okay 🥰