Nagging sternum and incision pain 5 months post-op

[aussigal]

Hi Marguerite,
Your scar looks really good, mine is kinda crooked and uneven and definately longer than 5 inches...like the others have suggested, I think maybe your deep-cleavage is the guilty party with regard to your sternum pain. I have a lot less to fill my tops out with and I dont have any ongoing pain in the sternum. Have you had an X-ray or anything to check the alignment of your ribs'n'bits.
....sorry your Surgeon didnt have any answers for you you would think it is something he should know about.
My scar is still itchy but it doesnt give me any pain except when I get up in the morning when it is stiff & achey for a minute until I stretch.
Ok...I hope I dont regret this... ...I cropped this pic. lots!
...I have no cleavage on show , but your scar is neater than mine.

 

[lopearredlady]

Marguerite,
I feel more like a new kid on the block, but I thought it might help to share with you that my sister is a physical therapist. When I was having a lot of pain in my chest muscles, she worked on stretching the skin around my scar by gently massaging the skin away from my scar (and taught my husband- that will get some of you going!).
It made me sore at first , but really helped the pain.

To make you all laugh----I had my most embarrassing moment at my two week check-up with my surgeon. I could not endure the pain of wearing a bra yet, so I wore stick-on "petals". When he was examining me, he got one of my petals stuck to his hand. He said "I seem to have something here, but I think it belongs to you, so I believe I'll give it back!"
My husband, the surgeon and I had quite a chuckle! Anyway, petals are a lot more comfortable-hah!

I hope you find a solution, soon, Marguerite!
Terry

 

[Ross]

Alright, which one of you has the picture of mine?

 

[maka]

Marguerite
My scar looks worse than yours...it felt like a burn or zipper that cought the skin. Then about a month ago I went to my dermatologist for something else and I mentioned to her about the burning sensation. She injected the scar in several places with cortisone (I believe that's what she used). The injections were painful but the burning dissapeared and the scar became a little less red. She also recomended Scar Solution by Neosporin. They are like band aids and keep the scar flat and also help with the burning/itching.
Hope you feel better

 

[WayneGM]

Hi Marguerite,

I'm almost 7 months post op and my scar is still bothering me similar to what you described. Some days worse than others. Still feels like they sewed me up too tight ...and very itchy at times to the point it will wake me up in the middle of the night. My scar looks similar to yours, except perhaps a bit longer with a bump at the bottom. It's pretty red and kind of shiny and it seems to be really noticeable, almost glows, in certain lights. Still uncomfortable when using seatbelts.

I tried the vitamine E for awhile as suggested here. It seemed to be working but after about 2 weeks I broke out in a rash which made the itching/burning worse. Then I tried some kind of oatmeal based moisturizing stuff my daughter had that was supposed to be "gentle" if you had skin allergies (I forget the name).....went from bad to worse. I decided not to use anything.

I was at the Cardiologist yesterday for a check-up and mentioned the discomfort and essentially he echoed much of what's been said above...exercise to loosen things up and time. I'm prone to keloids as I have a few (not from surgery). So far the doc says the scar isn't keloid and he assured me the healing is progressing as expected and there's no underlying problem causing this that needs attention. However, he said if it itches DON'T SCRATCH! He suggested using a feather (not sure where I'd get one )

 

[aussigal]

While doing some reading/research I came across the word for these scars that arent Keloid but are just a bit lumpy "hypertrophied" is the term they used ...
In my pic. you can see some shiny bits and thats where I have small linear bumps much like yours Marguerite...
I might try to get a clearer pic, mine actually looks pretty flat and unoticeable in the pic I posted earlier, it isnt quite the same in real-life!
I'm wondering if our natural skin tone makes them heal and look different too...cos my scar is 2 days younger than yours so you would think they would be pratically the same .

 

[Marguerite53]

Thanks everyone. Cris, I'm too wimpy to massage the area...too tender! Terry, well, Terry.... that is a hilarious story...what can I say??? Maka, another good product to try, thanks.

Wayne...except for the itching, your descriptions match mine completley. For a long time I really did think that they sewed me up too tight...that's exactly right. That's why the pulling away from it feels so odd. Do you know if they used the Dacron thread to "wire" you up, too? I wonder if it's the plastic. Do you have metal or not? And yes, it does rather glow in certain lights. It's just for me, it used to glow in a skinny little white line....now it's fat and pinky glowing. Oh well.

Tonia. I'm sure skin tone plays a big role in how they look. I wonder about height, too. I'm 5'8", too, so mine appears smaller as I think I may be taller than you. I wonder if that makes a difference, too. My surgeon has plastic surgery training, and everyone who sees my scar says it is the smallest they've seen. I think he just was able to start low since I'm tall and long torso-ed. And they can't really see into my cleavage that well!!

Truly have appreciated everyone's story. Thanks again. I'm going to stop thinking about it and hopefully it will all calm down soon. And I'll experiemnt with some of the suggested lotions.

Marguerite

 

[ILoVeNY25]

Hi Marguerite, Sorry to hear about your discomfort. What Terry mentioned about massaging is right on. I'm in physical therapy too and that's one of the biggest things I tell patients after total knee replacement or even smaller not as invasive surgeries. Get a jar of vitamin e cream and gently massage, I know it hurts, but maybe you can start off slow or have someone else do it for you . The massaging really breaks up that scar tissue and will help "loosen" that tightening feeling. Best of luck in your search for relief.

 

[WayneGM]

I'm not sure what they used to wire me up. I'm pretty sure metal as I think I recall my Cardiologist making a joke about setting off alarms at airports.

The itching started getting really bad just a few weeks ago. Before that it was more sore than itchy. Now it's the reverse. I assume it's because it's healing. While the itchiness drives me crazy sometimes, it's better than the soreness I used to have.