Seroma

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Has anyone suffered with this and if so did you have it drained?  Had right side mastectomy on 8th June and wound was healing really well and felt comfortable until this happened 10 days after op. Haven’t found the breast nurse to be to helpful 

  • Hi Ousy 

    I had one after my therapeutic mammoplasty. They drained it the first time, it came back, but not quite as big, and they weren’t keen to drain it a 2nd time because of a risk of infection, and because they thought it would just come back again. After a few weeks it slowly disappeared by itself. 

  • Hi Ousy,

    Sorry to hear you’ve been going through a difficult time.

    I had rt mastectomy & lymph node clearance almost a year ago & had seroma build up afterwards. It started about 2wks after the op & a wk after the drains were removed. I had it drained a few times (sometimes twice a week) over about a month/6 wks. Reassuringly, draining was never painful & actually it was a lot more comfortable after each draining. It started at 1000ml (a lot of sloshing around which can be a little disconcerting) & gradually reduced. The consultant said he would have drained 200ml so I did the right thing by going in. It delayed chemo by a few weeks but did eventually settle. It’s left the mastectomy site a bit ‘hilly’ but hey ho! 
    I had private healthcare insurance so maybe it’s a different approach on nhs so can only go with my experience.

    I know it’s difficult not to worry too much (trust me, I know) especially as each step is just one learning curve after another & everything’s probably feeling a bit sensitive at the mo. I’m hopefully coming out the other side & although it all feels like yesterday, retrospect is a great perspective so hope this reassures you a bit. Would the breast care nurses on here be able to offer some advice?

    Fingers crossed it all settles down soon.

    xx