Dressing a surgical wound

[Greedyfly]

Hi guys. I just recently had an ankle arthroscopy and had my bandages removed Tuesday. I have since had to change the dressings and go to see the nurse as one of the wound sites is not healing and has been discharging so much it soaked through the dressings. The nurse gave me some dressings that are made of a type of skin like plastic (not sure what they are called) which are great when they go on but they start to peel off within a couple of hours due to body heat and the fact that the wound site is on the front of my ankle/foot so the continuous bending when walking just stretches the dressings too far. Can anyone suggest a good type of dressing I could buy to keep the wounds covered as they are not healing and I can't leave them exposed. I have tried some called MEPORE also which work great but they were given to me from the hospital and we have now rum out due to the continuous discharge I was getting. Boots do not appear to sell anything of use. I don't want to waste another £5 on something that is again useless. Any suggestion son dressing types or a way I could dress the site without it creasing and peeling when I use my foot? It's in such an awkward area. Up to now when I have had surgery it has always been in a cast so I haven't had to worry about dressing it.

Thanks for your help

[tinkerbell23]

The nurse could mabye get some for you, or a prescription from your nurse or gp......alleyven adhesive is sticky but absorbant, you also get alleyven gentle border if the skin is breaking down and is more sensitive..... Your nurse would mabye prescrible something with silver if they think you need it, which you use under the dressing......if it keeps coming loose why not try a crepe bandage ontop of it all to secure, obviously loose enough to be comfortable and thin enough to get into a shoe if needed.....xxxxx

[karenmac60]

If it's not healing very well, see if your nurse will prescribe Alginate dressings. They are derived from seaweed and speed up the healing process. Mr mac had an 8cm deep wound that was constantly having to be packed and just wouldn't heal till he got hold of these, then it healed pretty quickly.