My Port Infections and Erosion Story

[DeLarla 22]

Lots of people have been asking for my port infections/removals that lead to my current erosion, so thanks Alex for giving me a place to put it. Now I can refer them to once place.

I was banded by Dr. Lopez in Tijuana 5/5/04. My port site began leaking a week after surgery and never healed. It was red, hot, inflamed, infected. A month after surgery, I went back to Tijuana, where Dr. Kuri removed my port (I couldn't get Dr. Lopez to return my frantic calls or e-mails.)

Before going to Kuri though, I consulted with five different band surgeons because I didn't want my port removed; I just wanted antibiotics to kill the infection. Every single band surgeon agrees on one thing though, which is that an infected port MUST come out. Antibiotics may relive the redness and infection symptoms, but the infection will just keep coming back. Infected ports can (usually) lead to erosion since the infection travels down the tube, so an infected port needs to be removed immediately.

Even after port removal, the same wound refused to close and started leaking a few days after removal. I started going to local Vegas doctors, Urgent Care, even my vet! Nobody knew what was wrong. They put me on antibiotics, which didn't help. At one point the wound got so bad that Urgent Care said it needed to be lanced. They sliced it open and drained an awful amount of infected liquid, then packed the wound and had me come back the next day for another packing cleaning.

The wound still wouldn't close, and one day the tube popped out of my body. I walked around crying, not knowing what to do since local doctors don't know the band, and the 2 local band docs in Vegas refuse to see patients banded elsewhere. I started complaining to Inamed and anyone else who would listen, then I mentioned Inamed liability and told Inamed, "Your boy's club is making a lot of money off American patients that are walking around sick while you're getting richer." That's the comment that burned Inamed enough to contact Lopez for me.

8 months from my original surgery, Lopez (my original surgeon who ignored me this whole time) finally called after being urged by Inamed. He said we could start our relationship all over, and for me to come to Mexico. So I went to Tijuana for my 3rd time, where Lopez misdiagnosed me with "Band Rejection." He said the reason the port wound wouldn't heal is because my body was rejecting the tube, which is made out of the same material as the band, so he said my band would eventually "Reject" as well. However, Lopez was impressed with my 70-pound weight loss and agreed to give me a new port, even though he said it would be temporary and most likely "reject" like the first one. It was my option, but he said a new temporary port would allow me to get filled enough to lose more weight.

December 2004, Lopez cut me up, removed a bunch of inflammatory tissue, replaced the port through the same wound, then closed me up and sent me home. A few days later, my new port was infected. I was finally convinced to suck it up and find a US surgeon anywhere and just accept the fact that I might be left with enormous medical bills, so I went to Ventura and saw Dr. Billy. Billy filled in all the blanks by first saying Kuri should never have left the tube so close to the surface of my skin when he removed my first port. The tube by the open wound prevented the wound from closing, which caused bacteria to grow, ergo infection. Kuri should have (standard operating procedure) stored the tube in my abdominal cavity to allow the wound to close - that was 8 months of unnecessary hell.

Billy said there's no documented literature on "band rejection." He also said Lopez should never have closed a wound where he left a gaping hole after removing a large amount of inflamed tissue. Open wounds (like a bullet wound) need to drain and need to be left open to heal from the inside out. Again, standard operating procedure. I wasn't rejecting anything, I simply had an infection.

January 2005 Billy did an edoscopy, a laproscopy and removed my 2nd brand new port. He removed a bunch of infected tissue and he found SEVEN loose surgical staples just floating around the area that had no reason being there. He wasn't able to close the wound because of the hole left in me, so he packed it with gauze and trained my friend, Penni, how to change the packing daily since I nearly fainted when he made me look at the hole in me.

So Penni packed it for a couple days, then sent me home to Vegas. I'm lucky to have a friend nearby who adores gross medical junk, so she was happy to pack the wound every single day after Penni explained step-by-step instructions. Mary did this a few months, and it was very exciting seeing her use a little less gauze each day. I celebrated the day the wound finally sealed shut, leaving me with an ugly indented purple scar.

Billy said I had to be clean a full 6 months before he'd even consider giving me a new port. But lately my band/belly has felt "different" than it used to, so I suspected erosion. All the port infections out of Mexico that I am personally aware of have eroded, so I was quite sure. It took a long time to get the endoscopy since I don't have a local doctor, but I convinced my primary doctor to refer me. At first they'd only give me an Upper GI that I had a couple weeks ago. It came back clean, so I had to practically beg this gastro guy to get me an endoscopy.

I finally had the endoscopy this week, which revealed erosion. Now I'm working out details on having the band removed.

That's it in a nutshell. There's lots more details, but I'm already guilty of having 5000 posts here, so hopefully someone else gets the award for longest post!

[Alexra 0]

I'm so sorry to hear everything you went through and hope yout journey from now on is a pleasant one without any pain or infections.

Do you think you will get an other band in the future? From an american Dr?

[Cheri 0]

Delarla ~

I am totally freaked out!! I don't want to gross you out, but will you look at this pic and let me know if it looks familiar? This is my port incision as of today (12/24), almost three weeks out. I have already completed a course of antibiotics, and I was experiencing (and continue to have) burning/stinging in my left abdominal area!

I keep filling it with neosporin, hoping to keep infection at bay. It ooozes from time to time, "scabs" over, but everytime I take a shower or bath, the "scab" melts away leaving an even bigger hole!

Sorry to bring it up so close to Christmas, but I truly am worried!

I already have a lint trap on my tummy, I really don't need another!!!

Thanks and Merry Christmas, Lisa!

Love ~cheri

sorry so fuzzy, can't take good close-ups

mods, please make smaller

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[Desi80 1]

my port sight looked like that too at about 3 weeks out, i wouldn't stress, but i'm not an expert. All i can say is my port incision did something similar, it just took a little longer to heal, but was fine. i didn't even have to have antibiotics,

[DeLarla 22]

Again, I only wrote this whole saga because I get so many PMs and e-mails asking for my story, which I've told 100 times before but never in one thread.

Cheri, I'm gonna get hardcore on you, but PLEASE ask your doc to take a look since none of us are band experts. All I can say from my end is that mine looked way worse. My entire area was hot, red and inflamed in addition to leaking clearish Fluid.

However, I learned a lot about leaking wounds, and they are quite common and happen in other surgeries (my pal had a boob reduction that leaked for 8 weeks.)

Yours looks much better than mine, but please ask the pros. I'm not thrilled that you've been on antibiotics though, because the experienced band docs I've talked to said there's no such treatment for an infected port. Antibiotics may temporarily relieve the symptoms, but they won't cure a port infection.

The problem with port infections is that they can lead to erosion, but erosion takes time to progress. So even if your port was infected, I personally don't see any reason to get an endo so early in the game. Just make sure to get your annual endo and take good care of your baby band

In a perfect world, I'd get another band if my American insurance would pay for me to have a Swedish band! Actually, I don't know anything about the Swedish band, I was trying to be funny. Nobody can say if they'll get another band right away. I suspect we'd have to wait a year or two for the docs to look inside our belly to see if we healed okay from the first removal. There's going to be scar tissue involved, so God only knows what shape my belly will be in down the road. If my insurance covers it a few years down the road, HELL YES, I'd get another!

THE BAND IS AWESOME... if you get lucky with a good surgeon and insurance!

[kabeerah 0]

It took me a while to finish reading your story. I kept having to stop...close my eyes...shake my head...put my head down...think...start the process over. Is that what happens when you are disturbed? lol...

I am so sorry that this happened to you. i'm glad you are vocal about this, staying informed and informing others. I'm confused though...How do you explain your weight loss? Was there restriction all this time or were you too sick yto eat?

[chichigirl 1]

Thank you so much Lisa for an incredibly informative post of your experience. You are so intelligent and articulate and you explained things in a manner that few would have trouble understanding. I am praying for you, please keep up your positive attitude. You may not feel like you are being positive, but the simple fact that you are willing to share this extremely important information with all of us in the midst of going through your own personal hell, speaks volumns about the kind of person you are.

If I were you, I would certainly check with your local news stations and talk to their consumer reporters. I know from my own experience with these guys, they really do talk to everyday people for their stories. If you can get them to give you an interview and air the segment, you may actually find a doctor who might be willing to help you out non gratis. It happens all the time. These surgical centers and the people who work in them are usually caring, compassionate people and it's not unusual to hear stories of them helping someone like yourself. What have you got to lose?

Whatever you decide to do, I certainly wish you the very best. The odds are in your favor that whatever happens will turn into a good thing for you.

Please take care, and once again thank you so much for sharing your story.

Cindy

[HarleyNana 10]

Sorry you have erosion Lisa, good luck on the next step.

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

Cheri-

Not to scare you, but that is EXACTLY how my port incision looked. I am going to try to post a picture (I haven't done that here before, so we will see how it works out). This picture was taken 5 weeks out-not at all what a typical healing incision should look like at that point. My port site took an unusually long amount of time to heal on the skin--almost looked like a cigarette burn in the middle of my scar that kept oozing and wouldn't heal. It took 2 months all together for the skin to be completely drainage and scab free!

Now almost 5 months later, I am just now finding out that I definitely have had a port infection all this time (that the docs all the time suspected and never told me) and now I have to get it taken out probably next week, if not sooner. The pain is intense at times, and I feel like a have a baseball under my skin between my boobs

I have been through 4 rounds of antibiotics, and if you are keeping up on Delarla's posts, you know this is just a bandaid so-to-speak in order to 'put off' the port removal (which is the ONLY cure for getting rid of the infection). The port is a very porous piece of the band (meaning it has lots of microscopic holes where bacteria love to grow) which makes it an ideal area for nasty goop to live.

Knowing what I know how, I can't say that I would have done anything differently, as the band has worked wonderfully for me up to this point, and I'm very afraid that after my port removal, my progress will stall. However, I am not very far into my lapband journey yet, and I am praying this infection doesn't lead to erosion for me someday (as I know statistically it can). If I ever erode, my view on things will most likely be much different on what I could have/should have done differently.

My advice to you is to watch the area very closely, be assertive in what you want your doctor to do for you, avoid the antibiotics if possible, STOP using Neosporin (It is oil based and actually can trap bacteria into an incision-its fine for superficial wounds but not deep incisional/surgical wounds), GENTLY feel around the area often and immediately report any changes like firmness that grows in diameter/redness/pain/swelling.

Good luck to you Cheri.

Thanks Delarla for your infinite wisdom. You have helped me so much in my journey already!

I also just want to say....This Thread is AWESOME...Finally a place to put all of these posts. When you are going through the thick of things (with complications), it will be nice to have a centralized place to quickly read through to find information on what others have experienced in relation to their similiar experiences.

Thanks LBT!

[psichikel 0]

Thanks for the picture, now I'll know what to look for if I do have something that looks like that. Luckily, Dr. Aceves has had no problems with any of his patients, and he is very thorough with his work. His office is really wonderful about getting in touch with their patients, so I feel really confident about his work. However, my bf lives in San Diego so I'll be spending 3 wks there after the surgery in case anything goes wrong, I'm 2hrs away. I am crossing my fingers that I continue the legacy of Dr. A and not have any problems. I wish all of you with problems the best of luck. Thanks for sharing your stories with us, perhaps your misfortune will help others in the future. Take Care!!

Kelli

[Maggie63 0]

wow...i am 4 weeks out and my port incision (all incisons) are completed healed. if mine looked like either of yours i would be in my doc office until he agreed to see me. i know everyone heals differently, but that does not look like a wound that is 4-5 weeks out.

go see your doc now!!!! let us know what they say.

[DrPleatman 3]

Just a thought for those of you who have suffered band erosion... and please don't flame me! Once you have had an erosion, the anatomy in that area is distorted, and placement of a new band won't be easy. For this reason I recommend lap gastric bypass for patients who want something done. I do it 6 months after removal of the eroded band. It will be more reliably successful than another attempt at a band. That's just my opinion.

Mark Pleatman MD

www.laparoscopy.com/pleatman

[MsButterKup23 1]

Just a thought for those of you who have suffered band erosion... and please don't flame me! Once you have had an erosion, the anatomy in that area is distorted, and placement of a new band won't be easy. For this reason I recommend lap gastric bypass for patients who want something done. I do it 6 months after removal of the eroded band. It will be more reliably successful than another attempt at a band. That's just my opinion.

Mark Pleatman MD

www.laparoscopy.com/pleatman

Thanks, that would be my next step personally if something happened and I lost my band.

[psbilling 0]

<p><p><p>I am sorry to hear your story. I am a lap band surgeon in Seattle and I have removed three lap bands from patients who have gone to Mexico in this past year. Similar stories. I hope you can find someone locally to help you. If you are in Vegas, Dr. Fischer should be able to help.</p></p> <p> </p> <p>Peter Billing, MD</p> <p>pssurgicalclinic.com</p></p>

[Penni60 45]

Dr. Billing it is my understanding that Dr. Fischer wouldn't touch her because she was a Mexico patient.