Apparent allergic reaction to surgical glue

[knwitham 0]

I'm itching like crazy!!

It appears that I have a true allergy to adhesives. Monday, after my surgeon took my steri strips off, I started noticing some serious itching from my incision sites. I thought that itching meant healing, so I was just going to try to be tough and suck it up and not scratch. But then...things got crazy! The skin around the glue started blistering, turning shades of red, and hot and hard to the touch.

I went to the ER last night because I was scared maybe they were infected, but the Dr. said he believes it's just an allergic reaction to the surgical adhesive. Has this happend to anyone else? How long did it take to clear up?? Thanks in advance!

[elcee 3,341]

Welcome to the club!

Most of the adhesives make me really itchy, although I was quite lucky i didn't have too many issues postop probably as i prewarned them so they must have used a hypoallergenic type.

[Erin18 143]

I think I might be alergic to it too but I didn't have any rash or red pumps till like week two and now I still have them but only on one incission and two holes I have itchy red bumps, I wonder if there's anything to get rid of it, I'll ask my surgeron deff.

[travelinsnorkel 0]

I had the same problem. My initial surgery I had 4 itchy rashes around my incisions. I thought that it was the steri-strip adhesive. So, this time when I had my port revision, he just used the glue and no strips and I still had the itchy rash! No fun!

[onikenbai 33]

I'm visciously allergic to most adhesives. My skin will go bright red and puff up about 1/2 inch before coming off completely a day or two after. I had surgery a few years ago and, despite my telling them VERY CLEARLY not to put on a specific type of bandage, I woke up to about three square feet of my skin covered by this bandage. I couldn't wait until they ripped it off of me. Then the real pain began as I had to wait out the whole new growing of skin. Took about 6 weeks for my skin to be somewhat back to normal and I was lucky I wasn't completely scarred for life. The pain of the surgery was nothing in compared to the hell of the allergic reaction.

FYI -I learned this from the dermatologist... if your skin is red and you can't decide whether it's infected or just irritated, stretch a bit of it between two thumbs. Irritated stretched skin will change colour and go white, infected stretched skin stays red. This is by no means a perfect diagnostic tool, but it is pretty reliable.

[vyrgrl1 0]

Yup thanks for your input.. The same thing is happening to me.. and I am a Nurse.. i thought it was the 'healing' also until i noticed the same thing you did.. Exact same thing.. so.. 2 weeks huh? god.. this is MISERABLE.. benadryl and cortisone cream.. and maybe some Pepcid.. okay.. i'll try anything..

thanks

Beverly

It appears that I have a true allergy to adhesives. Monday, after my surgeon took my steri strips off, I started noticing some serious itching from my incision sites. I thought that itching meant healing, so I was just going to try to be tough and suck it up and not scratch. But then...things got crazy! The skin around the glue started blistering, turning shades of red, and hot and hard to the touch.

I went to the ER last night because I was scared maybe they were infected, but the Dr. said he believes it's just an allergic reaction to the surgical adhesive. Has this happend to anyone else? How long did it take to clear up?? Thanks in advance!

[spoiltmom 44]

Me! I peeled mine off after 5 days and started using Benadryl cream around the edges. My surgeon said that was fine.