Chest tube hole not closing up

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
H

HiMyNameIsDale

Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
23
Location
Buffalo, New York
Hey everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I visited my primary care physician to get the stitches removed from my chest tube hole. At the time my chest tube hole was all clotted up and healing nicely, but the doctor had to remove all of the clotting to get the stitches out. So now I have had a gaping open tube hole for the past two weeks. It tries to clot up or seal up but the seal continues to break open because the area of the hole is fairly large. I am wondering if anyone on this forum has any suggestions on helping the healing process? Should I get some butterfly band aids to help pull the hole closed to make it easier to clot? I just want to get the hole clotted up to help reduce the risk of infection and help the healing process. Does anyone know how long it takes on average for a open tube hole without stitches pulling it closed? I am worried that if it takes a long time to heal it will make it easier to become infected.
 
Why did your doctor take out the stitches if it's still a rather large hole, and what does he think about it? My chest tube hole was fairly big but just scabed up and eventually closed quite a bit. Have you consulted with your doctor since they were taken out?
 
When the doctor was going to remove the stitches the hole was healed up pretty good, but when she attempted to remove the stitches she felt the need to remove the clotting and open it back up to remove the stitches. It sucks because without the stitches or the clots holding it together it is wide open now and having a hard time clotting up. I haven't seen the doctor since she removed the stitches, but I have an appointment next week.
 
I never had any stitches, only had the butterfly band-aids and they stayed on about a week after being discharged and everything was good.

I suggest using the butterfly band-aids (hope there is someone who can help applying them) and maybe cover it with some gauze and tape for a few days......or go back to your doctor sooner.

Just a thought.
 
My stitches were in for 2+ weeks and when they were removed everything was healed up pretty fully. The whole reason for stitches is to hold things together and let them heal up. I'd go back and ask for either stitches back or tape and dressing to keep things nice and tightly closed up so that they can heal.
 
I agree maybe you should cover it with some gauze and call your surgeon in a couple of weeks if it doesn't heal. Good luck and make sure you keep us all updated.
 
My first surgery, I had three chest tubes and my second surgery, I had four. (Lucky me. )
I had no stitches that needed to be removed after I left the hospital and all those holes healed fine on their own in short order.
If I had open wounds like that, I would be at my surgeon or PCP's office having them checked.
I would not let those wounds remain untreated. Too high a risk for infection. IMO
 
Dale, my chest incision healed without any incident in a little less than three weeks. The four small incisions for the tubes and wires were slower to heal; I also had no stitches. My doctor had me use butterfly bandages or light gauze to keep them covered. The last one didn't heal completely until almost 6 weeks after surgery. The most annoying thing was they kept seeping through onto my clothing. After healing, I was left with four little "dimples".

Larry
 
My personal feeling is to get to the doc ASAP to ensure it isn't infected.

Likely a steri-strip would do the job. Just leave it on until it falls off (a couple weeks). I hesitate to cover the wound (gauze only) because that keeps gunk in as well as out - especially in the shower and may increase chance of infection, and it doesn't help close the wound. If the issue is that it's "gaping" too much to heal, a steri strip across the middle will keep the wound closed so it can heal, but open to the air to create a nice scab.

I haven't used this for chest tube holes, but I have gone to the hospital for other wounds that wouldn't heal, and this is what they did.
 
I had no stitches. Per the nurses at the hospital, my doctor doesn't use them for drain holes but many others do. On discharge, I just covered the hole with gauze and with wide tape to completely cover the gauze over so the blood would not seep onto my clothes. They gave me steri strips and told me to use them to close it if the bleeding did not gradually go away. I did not need them. They sent me home after a week in the hospital with about two weeks worth of bandages and one hole bleeding. At home, the other hole took about 1 1/2 weeks for a total of 2 1/2 weeks.

I agree with Greg, call your surgeon. To me it sounds weird to have your primary care physician remove stitches from surgery. I've had 4 different operations and all of my stitches were either removed by interns, nurses or PA in the hospital or in the surgeon's office by a nurse or PA. Except for an intern, I've never had stitches removed by a doctor.
 
All my stitches from surgery were the self-dissolving kind, or glue. None in the drainage holes. I'd be back at my surgeon's asap for a consult. Not the GP. I've never had a doctor take out stitches who wasn't the one responsible for putting them there in the first place.

Those stitches should not have come out if the hole was not closed, and she shouldn't have had to "open" the hole to remove any. The inside stitches should have been the self-dissolving kind.
 
Hi,

I agree with the others that said to go back to your doctor, or perhaps a different doctor. From what you described, that doctor should not have removed your stitches so early. Don't risk infection, not only to your drainage opening, but to your heart itself.

Go get someone to look at it and advise you.

Good luck, and good health,

Rob
 
Hi Dale,

When I had my surgery they never stitched the chest tube holes at all. In fact I don't remember them doing anything with them. I think they were trying to let them heal from the inside out to actually help reduce infection. This allows the holes to drain instead of trapping fluid inside. Hours before I went home they pulled the last tube and I had to drive home in the car with a towel over the hole because it was leaking so much. Everything went fine with the healing. No infections. I just wanted to share my story because it looks like most people had their incisions stitched closed and I wanted you to know that is not always the case. :)
 
I had stitches in my drain tube holes, and they gave me a removal kit with instructions to take them out in a week or so (can't remember the exact timing). Once they were removed, I would feel the wounds sort of peeling back open as I stood up after sitting for a while...or other similar movement. Then they would get a little "gooey". The surgeon's nurse who I talked to regularly on the phone Said it was normal for them to take longer to heal. She didn't think steri strips would help because rather than the two sides of the wound sealing back together, tissue fills in the hole from the inside out. She recommended hydrogen peroxide 2x per day and watching for any signs of infection (redness, pain, temperature). I did the hydrogen peroxide, but within a few days, I DID put on the steri strips. I don't know if they helped with healing, but they helped keep they area from being stretched and causing discomfort. I continued the use of hydrogen peroxide as well, and they healed up pretty good about a week or two later. I do remember being concerned that it was taking so long, but as with most things I worried about, I was told it was all part of the NORMAL process.

NOTE: I had a visiting nurse 2 days a week who was keeping an eye on the wounds as well. If I hadn't, I probably would have taken a quick trip to the dr. as well.

NOTE 2: A doctor friend of mine told me that hydrogen peroxide is tough on the newly forming cells and recommended salt water instead, but I like the bubbles from the peroxide....it lets me know it's working :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amy
HiMyNameIsDale said:
When the doctor was going to remove the stitches the hole was healed up pretty good, but when she attempted to remove the stitches she felt the need to remove the clotting and open it back up to remove the stitches. It sucks because without the stitches or the clots holding it together it is wide open now and having a hard time clotting up. I haven't seen the doctor since she removed the stitches, but I have an appointment next week.
Click to expand...

I feel as if that is all just wrong, I'm no doctor by any means! But to say, hey, let me open your wound to get the stitches out that are keeping their wound closed just sounds...dumb on that doctors part. That makes zero sense to me.

Hopefully everything gets situated, and it starts to close.
 
I was another who did not have stitches to close the holes. As they pulled the tubes, another nurse put a big bandage over the area of the holes. Two days later just before I left hosptial, they took bandage off and I took a shower. They gave me iodine swabs and told me to swab 2 times a day. The holes and incision. Told me not to cover them to allow them to heal. At 6 weeks when I went back to work, I noticed a few times I had little red dots on my white dress shirts from the holes and put bandaid on for a few weeks. They are all healed up now.
 
I went to the doctor and she took a swab of the drainage to see if it is an infection. I won't know the answer until Monday, but she prescribed antibiotics anyway. I am taking the antibiotics now. I called a nurse practitioner at Cleveland clinic and she said that it wasn't common for a chest tube hole to get infected. I have also realized that I have had the drainage for a whole week now and I do not have a fever and there is no expanding redness or tenderness at the wound site. I think that would have happened by now if I had an infection. Maybe not though. The nurse practitioner also told me to swab the hole with betadine or iodine swabs and that should help the healing process. Although there is a chance that I might not have an infection, I am taking the antibiotics anyway. Better to be safe than sorry. The iodine swabs are already helping the wound scab up. Hopefully I don't have an infection and I can get the wound to finally close up.
 
My chest tube hole was found to be infected with MRSA. They prescribed Bactrim DS for me. I hope that I can get rid of it before it becomes a problem since I do not have a fever or any other signs of infection. I hope the bactrim DS gets rid of the infection too.
 
Thank you for sharing you concerns here. I may be checking out today and am well-informed on this subject thanks to you. I was given no stitches. When the surgical dressing was removed on day 3 (I think) the right-hand one was gapped open maybe 1/4" and obviously just at the point of clotting. The nurse used 3 narrow steri-strips on each of the 2 large wounds. Other than those everything is open-air and now no seeping. We'll see how they fare on the ride home, etc. You didn't mention your anti-coagulation therapy status. Maybe it has helped me to be below therapeutic threshold on Coumadin this far. then again I've had the HEPARIN drip going, so not sure about that. Sounds like your own curiosity and vigilance has served you very well. Best of luck with this and may you have few future surprise dilemmas. :) Les H.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top