Medical News

Having surgery can be a very frightening prospect. Aside from the actual surgery the aftermath can be pretty frustrating too. You may have a painful incision site, the extra task of dealing with special bandages, keeping the area dry and more. This can turn out to be a very frustrating ordeal.

The fear of infection is always a major concern and can be a mind boggling prospect. If you know what to look for however, you will be able to prevent huge life altering problems that can be caused from infection.

Infection: This is the biggest worry. Five hundred thousand out of every twenty-seven million surgeries end up having some sort of infection every year. This can end up being an infection at the point of incision or even in your blood. If you find yourself feeling malaise: tired, feeling like there is something wrong and down in the dumps, you may have an infection in your blood.

With both types of infection fever is usually present. When the wound is infected there area is going to feel hot, harden, develop a distinct redness, swell, and produce fluids such as pus that could drain from the incision. It will also hurt more and more as time goes on.

In the event that you find yourself with these symptoms immediately go see your doctor or go to the emergency room or an urgent care facility to be treated.

Hemorrhage: It’s pretty common to have a little bleeding following a surgery. A lot of bleeding however is never a good thing or common. If your bandage becomes a very bloody, dripping mess you may have a hemorrhage.

If you have the above symptoms you need to get to your doctor’s office of the emergency room immediately. If you don’t, you could likely bleed to death. Be sure to apply constant pressure to the wound on the way to hold back some of the bleeding.

Blood Clots: You may have a clot in you leg if you start to experience a pain that isn’t normal. Clots that you get after surgeries can lead to strokes, heart attacks, and pulmonary embolism. Each of these three is life threatening situations. You must immediately see your doctor.

Nerve Complications: Sometimes when the is a surgical procedure performed on a limb the problem of nerve complications will arise. These are caused by swelling or a clot that has formed on the nerve. While this is not an emergency situation it is necessary however that you be seen by your doctor to treat the problem.