After surgery, shower, plasters

[lulubelle1977]

Morning all,

Sorry, I know I'm going to sound a little pathetic now but the beauty of mumsnet is you can ask with anonymity.

On Tuesday I had a laparoscopy and I have 4 incisions. I'm unclear about whether to change the plasters, before or after shower, etc.

I've been told that the plasters are waterproof, but I haven't changed them yet and they have a few blood stains so want to change them. In the notes it says you don't have to replace plasters but I'm a bit worried about infection, or clothes rubbing. Any advice?

I would probably take the plaster off before the shower, not get the wounds too wet, dry them after the shower (maybe with a pillow case or something else not fluffy) and then consider whether they actually need a new plaster. Perhaps if clothes might irritate them otherwise I'd put one on. But otherwise I tend to find wounds heal best without a dressing after the first day or two and I think it's pretty normal not to have a dressing after the first couple of days. Not sure if any of that is right!

You are better off leaving the plasters on unless they get saturated with water from washing or are leaking. If they are blood stained but not leaking they are better to stay on- they have been put on in a sterile theatre environment and the risk of infection is minimal. If they become wet or are leaking then they do need to be changed. I wouldn't leave them without dressings on aas clothes are likely to rub them and will get make the wound sites sore and cause more problems.

Leave them on, shower, and then replace if necessary e.g. if peeling or you think the pad might have become wet from the shower.