Seroma

Hi suewithoutaclue welcome to the forum. That sounds really uncomfortable. It may be that the drain was taken out too soon and this may need drained again.  Its challenging as we are just moving into a holiday period for the NHS so folk may not be readily available. It will disperse itself given time but whatever you do keep doing those arm.exercises they hopefully have given you before you left the hospital. It may be a bit painful but it will help with drainage of the area. Hope that makes sense?  I would nake contact with out of hours if this becomes unbearably painful for you. X

Thanks for your reply. I’m hoping I can manage with it for a few days, just a bit frustrating!

Hello, sorry to hear you are in discomfort. I’ve had two mastectomies (two separate operations) and I had a seroma with each one. The first  was very sore, and quite big (900ml). I had it aspirated three times, with each subsequent aspiration producing less fluid. It didn’t come back after the third aspiration. This was a painless procedure by the way, and it provides instant relief. The seroma caused by the second mastectomy wasn’t so sore. It was aspirated once. It did return, but then slowly disappeared by itself. The fluid was absorbed by my body. Xx

Hi how long did it take to disperse I had surgery June still feeling fluid

Hi, the first took about six weeks, but with intervention from a Registrar (massaging each pocket of fluid) as the BCN was aspirating. The second one was not so long … about two weeks after the aspiration. They can take a while to disperse.

Hi Suewithoutaclue,you need to get in touch with your consultant and get him/her to check it is Seroma and work out a plan of action. 

I have had mine drained the first time in March 2023 and then it returned again in the August 2023 finishing in September 2023 after discussing it with my consultant it was agreed that we would leave it until the middle of November and look at what to do next. By November the Seroma had started to reduce and I have an appointment for July 2024. 

I know people will advise to massage it, put heat on it etc but at one point the only way I could cope with the pain was to put freezer blocks, that put on knees, straight onto my breast from the freezer to help with the pain which they did. 

Each one of us is very different and the way we go about coping with things is unique to us all, but the first step should be to consultant with tour Consultant 

Hooe you had a good Christmas and the New Year will be good to you and your family. 

Oh and I had my cancer and 2 lymph nodes removed in September 2021. No seroma till March 2023.

Hi, I had my mastectomy 18 days ago , I have this lump too,

i was seen at the seroma clinic and the nurse said she didn’t think it was and that it was part of the swelling and should go down I was told to keep on as much as possible with the exercises, hope this helps, she had a second opinion from a doctor and he also said he didn’t think it was a seroma 

take care 

Rachel 

Thank you so much for all of the replies and sharing of experiences. I think I felt a bit concerned as my surgery wasn't too painful for me, this is actually worse. I also appreciate that so many of you have been through worse things than I am experiencing and wish you all well xx

After my surgery I persevered with the excercises to make sure I didn’t get any side effects I did  get cording which is like  a cord running from under my arm to my elbow and took a few weeks to go and told just keep doing the excercises .. it worked and im  still doing the excercises so as I don’t stiffen up and stay supple .. I hope that helps though sounds a different problem to mine … speak to your Macmillan nurse of your concerns .. best wishes x