Shaving my legs and bled bled bled.....

[natnat919 165]

I'm 6 days post op, had my surgery 6/22.

Today, I decided to rejoin the land of the living and shower, wash my hair and shave my legs. (today is the first time I've shaved..... not showered, LOL). I shaved in the shower as usual, felt a horrible burning on my right leg. Looked down and saw blood pouring down my leg. It was coming from multiple cuts. I counted 17 cuts on my right leg that had blood coming from them. I haven't cut my legs shaving in 20 years..........it wasn't an old (or new) razor, nothing was out of the ordinary.

Since there were so many cuts, I draped a towel around the leg and applied pressure by wrapping it tightly. Wouldn't stop bleeding. Blood wasn't gushing, but it was clearly not coagulating properly. After 35 minutes of trying everything, trying to be patient, freaking out..... I called my best friend. She told me to elevate it... so I did. After a couple of minutes, it looked like it had stopped, so I stood up and the bleeding restarted. So I wiped all the blood off my leg with a wet rag and elevated it for a full 10 minutes. Then, when I stood up there was no more bleeding.

I'm not on any NSAIDS, no blood thinners, no aspirin. I only am taking (per surgeon's instructions) B Complex liquid and my Blood Pressure Med daily. Nothing more.

Any thoughts or similar experiences? I took a photo immediately after counting the cuts and wiping off the blood.... see attached

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

I avoided shaving while I was on blood thinners. Fortunately I didn't have to be anywhere out in the world for a while.

Since you aren't on blood thinners you may want to call your surgeon or PCP to see if they have any ideas.

[amsaf 16]

Im pretty sure after surgery everyone gets heparin to help not get blood clots and thats a blood thinner

[shellyd88 463]

Chuckles at inner surfer girl this happened to me as well with the shaving I take Coumadin due to Afib but was off that and given shots for a week and while in hospital of heparin I was bruised so badly like I had been beaten and as I said I also nearly butchered myself shaving legs try using an electric shaver if u have one or can buy one

[hockeyfan7 249]

I got heparin shots in the hospital every 4 hours for 2 1/2 days. I wonder if you got the same and didn't know it. They really didn't tell me what they were doing until I asked.

I had 22 bruises between my arms and my legs from the heparin shots and the every 4 hour blood draws and the IV where they had to try 4 different places to put it. I was a mess.

I love it when they asked me if I was safe at home. I told the nurse I was covered in bruises, someone was sticking me with a needle every 4 hours, my stomach had 6 incisions and you want to know if I'm safe at home? It's a lot safer at my house!

[jenbaby75 283]

Were you given a heparin injection during surgery? That could cause excess bleeding.

[natnat919 165]

It was added to my IV.... But the surgeons office said it wouldn't still be in my system 6 days later. They're running labs on me