swelling legs/ split incesion

I am almost 5 weeks out from thigh lift (8 week out from breast left and arm left and 11 weeks out from lbl with tightening). 

Currently, I am not feeling the love from my thighs.  MY legs and feet are so swollen that they are double in size.  at 3 weeks out the right thigh incision split to 3 by 2 inches.......I am currently doing dressing changes 2 times a day.  I did not have any problems with the other surgeries.

Anyone else had an incision split and if so how long did it take to heal?  I want to get back to at least swimming.

Thanks for letting me whine!

Hi

oh yes, right there with ya sista!  :-)  

i had an incision open also, it sucks but it did heal up. My scars are flat but red and where the opening was, it is wider than the rest of the incision line. It took about 2 1/2 months for it to heal completely.

Also, would love to say the swelling stops, but I am 5 months out and I still get swelling in my ankles and feet, especially when it is humid. It can still make shoes difficult to wear sometimes.

My thighs are still an area I am not overly happy with. They are a bit smaller and less creepy skin for sure, but I didn't really get the results I was hoping for. A lot of pain, some gnarly scars and my thighs still big. Don't get me wrong, not big like before I lost all the weight big, but bigger than I want them to be. My LBL and now my arms/breast lift (I am 2 1/2 weeks out from that surgery, which was my last phase) gave me such dramatic and amazing results. The thigh lift just doesn't seem worth it in comparison. I do hope that they will get better in time, but at 5 months I am not sure how much more I will see. 

Good luck to you!

The thigh lift definitely didn't give the immediate "yahoo!" reaction that the LBL or facelift has.  I'm about 6 months out, and it's just in the last few weeks that I can really say the scars are starting to look good.  Still not there all the way, but suddenly so much better.

I was whining to my surgeon at around the 3 month mark, and he reminded me that the thigh lift results wouldn't be totally known until I hit the one year mark.  Yes, he had told me this before the surgery, but patience is hard and I was feeling cranky.

My thighs were super small right after surgery.  I'm pretty sure my skin has given during the healing, and they're not as small any more.  BUT, I have space in pant legs that I never had before.  I can move much faster on the treadmill and just generally getting around.  And I've finally accepted that I'm going to have to wait until next year before I decide whether it was worth it or not.

What's so frustrating is that you think you're out of the woods on these types of complications at 3 weeks out.  I had some stitches spit at about the same time and there were a few small openings - not as long as yours, though.  They took a few weeks to close up again.  Sending healing thoughts your way!

The opening from my support garment from hell hit right in the place of my groin thigh lift stiches causing a couple to break. It took 6 weeks to fully close as it healed from the inside out.  Was sure it was going to leave a nasty scar but it didn't....I too was counting the days since all I wanted to do was be able to swim...  

I had my split in that same spot too. I got some men's boxer briefs and they helped a lot. I could use dressings without tape since the boxers held it in place and no more rubbing from the garment.  

Thanks everyone!  I appreciate your comments and support.

I am currently 3.5 months out from my thigh lift.  I was very nervous to have these types of issues.  Knock on wood, all my incisions stayed in place; nothing opened up at all. 

I am wondering if your Dr. required you to wear compression stockings for any amount of time.  Mine required me to wear them until the end of summer.  I was not released to work out until 8 weeks (then I could take the stockings off/but right back in them when shower was over).  My legs were swollen a little but nothing as to what I am reading here.

Maybe wearing these may help you, as uncomfortable as they are, they really made a difference with me. 

Good Luck,

Tracy

Tracy,

I have both legs in ace bandages plus a compression garment from waist to knee.  I don't mind compression wear at all.

I am thinking that I am swelling more because of all the work I have had done in the past 12 weeks.

Christina

I know the first few days on medicines I was able to walk about 2000 steps a day.  Then when off the meds I was lucky to hit 700!  I hated when I was to stand up and the blood rushing to my legs litterally felt like they were going to explode.  I can tell they did more work on the right leg than the left one.  I still have more pain with that one.  The only issues I had with the stockings is that they would roll down and it would cut off the circulation.  I would have to run to the restrooms to pull them back up.  I never thought about ace bandages. 

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Tracy