Numb skin...?

Guest · Jan 21, 2003

I suspect I should have asked this question sooner...but, perhaps I am a bit nervous about the answers I may get...plus, it's kinda hard to describe...but, let me try......

Has anyone had "numb skin" after surgery? Right now, the skin in the relatively small area between the incision and my left breast (right part of my chest as you look at me) is numb.... Er, not completely numb, but it feels "different". I do not have a rash...it just feels "more or less" numb. I have feeling in it (I can feel my hand touching it), but...it feels...."sore"....as if it has been stretched or something....OR like it is coming "out of sleep"...you know...like when your foot or hand falls "asleep"...and "comes to" again.... It feels like it is in the stage of *almost* being "back to normal" after falling asleep.

I don't notice it "all the time"...mostly when my shirt touches it...that's when it feels "painful". I don't think any of the chest pains I'm feeling are related to it...the "pain" I feel when the shirt touches it (which is not the same degree as when my hand touches it...the shirt touching it makes it feel worse than when I just touch it with my hand) is sorta like the pain you'd feel touching a sore spot caused by a burn or something....in other words, it is mostly an "outside" pain...not something coming from the inside....

Hmmm...not sure if any of this is making any sense...so, I'll stop for now...and hope someone has some comments/suggestions. No, I have not called the doctors...yet...even though I do not remember this type of feeling from my last surgery, I just figured it is part of the recovery process.....but, maybe not

. Aye....

Thanks...Peace...Always,
Cort Stevens...pig's valve & pacemaker-enhanced 29/swm
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LUVMyBirman · Jan 22, 2003

Hi Cort,

Sounds like you may have a keloid. Check out this link.

http://www.phudson.com/SCAR/keloid.html

Nothing serious or life threatening. I have one myself. After almost four years it is not painful at all. In my case the scar opened causing the Keloid.

Hope that helps. You should have your doctor take a look see to make sure there is not an infection brewing. Also, I tried all of the mentioned therapies. Did not change a thing. Waste of time and money. My friend down south is a plastic surgeon. She states that the area of your chest is so pliable that intervention usually is not successful. Well, she was right on the money. Thankfully mine was at a discounted rate

epstns · Jan 22, 2003

numbness

numbness

Cort, I don't know about all of the stuff you mentioned, but I can say that I have an old surgical scar (some 35 years old - lower abdomen, not heart related) and there are still some areas just to either side of the scar line that are nearly numb. Hasn't been a problem of any sort, just wierd. As you say, feels funny when clothing rubs it, but I've gotten used to it.

HTH
SteveE

Kevin M · Jan 22, 2003

Cort, if your surgery was fairly recent, then this is quite common.
I had a similar sensation. It's almost like it's not your skin when you touch it, but it is. Eventually, this sensation went away in my case. I also found it odd because it wasn't present throughout the entire scar, just an inch or so.

I don't know when you had your last op, but if it was in the past few months or so, I wouldn't be too worried about it unless it forms an itchy red belt of scar tissue. Then we're talking keloid, which is unpleasant, but nothing that will hurt you.
Kev

KristyW · Jan 22, 2003

Could Be Normal

Could Be Normal

Cort,

I too had this sensation in the same place after my surgery. Numbness on the left side of the incision, and on the right side of the left breast.

I asked the surgeon about it at my post-op appointment. He said that when they make those incisions, sometimes they cut a nerve. The nerve then has to regrow from the spine. It can take anywhere from 3 months to a year. Nerves are funny, they grow at their own pace.

I think that I got all the sensation back at about 6 months post-op. I'm not really sure though.

By all means ask your surgeon about it. They deal with this kind of thing all the time.

Guest · Jan 22, 2003

Thanks for the replies

.

My surgery was Jan 6...and I first noticed the "sensation" while in the hospital...but didn't pay much attention to it, because I wasn't touching my chest to clean it and the gowns I had on didn't rub it...so, I didn't notice it as much. I've noticed it more that I've been home, since I've started taking showers and am wearing clothes that rub against it. Thus far, no redness is associated with the feeling....

Arg...I just hate to tell the surgeons/dr...b/c I've noticed that sometimes they "go to extremes" with "symptoms". Aye..yeah, I know...should tell them anyway... And, I didn't mention it at the post-op appt b/c I really hadn't noticed it that much at that point....weird, eh?

BTW, Kevin...u nailed it ... "It's almost like it's not your skin"....

Thanks again

.