port UNDER muscle

KrystalRay · June 21, 2006

Hi Everyone!

According to my surgeon, most patients get their port placed under their skin. Mine, however, was placed under the muscle. Specifically, under the fascia of my muscle (i think "fascia" just means the outer most layer of a muscle). My surgeon told me he decided to do this during surgery as he thought the port might become visible after surgery when i started losing weight as I don't carry much of my excess fat on my upper stomach. I was wondering if anyone else had their port placed under their muscle as well? Did the port in fact stay hidden as you lost weight? Was their lots of pain associated with the port during the healing process? Does it go away? Can you always feel it? Are fills very difficult considering the port is more "buried" than usual?

THANKS!

jojo41 · June 21, 2006

My surgery is 17th July and my surgeon places all his patient's ports (over 7000 of them) under the outerlayer of the muscle.

Kat817 · June 21, 2006

Krystal, my only suggestion is if you are using a different Dr. for your fills, than your surgeon. My port is deeper than most apparently, possibly the same situation you are referring to. I did have a bit of difficulty during my first fill. I had a different Dr. so he had no idea ahead of time where to locate my port. My suggestion if you are using a different Dr. is to go with a fluoroscopy aided fill the first time out with the new Dr. In the end it was all good, so I am sure yours will be fine too! Good Luck to you!

Kat

Jachut · June 21, 2006

Fascia is only a thin transparent-ish layer that contains your muscles, a bit like cling wrap. So your port wouldnt be very much deeper than anyone else's. I would imagine, whilst you may have a detectable bulge there when you're at goal, it wont stick out like a lump.