Bump on Sternum.. Anyone?

[pgammo]

Hello all,

My scar is finally beginning to heal after 6 weeks, and I am feeling great. The other day, I was feeling my incision and I noticed that I have a "bumpy" area towards the bottom of the incision. It's a solid bumpy area, and it doesn't move. My scar also doesn't hurt to feel or touch. Is this just the sternum attempting to heal? Or possibly the stainless steel tie? Anyone familiar with this or went through a similar thing? Thanks for your input!

 

[epstns]

It could be bone healing - I had some lumps in mine that diminished over the first 6 months or so after surgery.

It could also be wires. That depends upon how much tissue you have over your sternum. I'm a skinny old rat, and I can feel the lumps that my wires make under the skin.

Wierd, but no big deal as long as these things don't result in any discomfort.

 

[JeffF]

PGammo, Mine is very bumpy in spots, I think its where the bone was cut and then fused back together.

Jeff

 

[Forrest]

That’s interesting on the feedback you received about others having bumps around their scar. I’m skinny so I think I noticed just about all post-op differences in my sternum. I basically just have protrusions due to my sternum wires, which for me are very pronounced. I can actually put my fingers on either side of one of the wires, use to be an uncomfortable feeling but I’m now very use to the appearance of my chest, and it gives me basically no problems. In the first year the wires were sensitive to zippers and the car seat belt, but now that’s rare. I’ve gotten back to sports and moderate work-outs so I got most of my pec muscles back surrounding the wires, but none on top of the wires since I’m slim by nature and don’t do push-ups anymore due to a shoulder injury. My wires (I believe there are 4 of them) are closer together than I would have thought. They start above the middle of my 9 inch scar and end at about the middle. I also have a lone wire protrusion at the very top of my scar, and I initially assumed this was just how my sternum around where my collar bones met under my neck was changed by the operation. But I was given my Xray, taken at the 3 week post-op mark and it wasn’t until about 2 months later that I became more curious about my wires and took another look at my Xray. From the Xray I see that this is actually a separate wire. I had thought I had already counted 4 wires clustered together down lower, but since the wires loop around the sternum with some overlap I believe I double counted a wire. I like having that original Xray, not only does it clearly show my sternum wires but it shows my bovine tissue valve, which looks like I swallowed a tiny rubber toy. I hope things continue to go well in your healing.

 

[karla]

Mine is rather lumpy and bumpy, mostly at the top, but is a little less pronounced than a month ago, which was a little less than the month before that.

 

[Mentu]

Hi, I have a "bump" also about 3/8" wide. My doctor says it is just scar tissue and should never be a problem. It is unlikely that a bump in the skin has anything to do with the sternum which is almost an inch below the skin. We have a sense that the sternum is just below the skin but for most people it is deeper than expected but it is more like an inch. How scar tissue forms is very complex and differs a lot from person to person. If it is not tender or inflammed, it is probably nothing of concern but you probably want to draw your doctor's attention to it.

Larry