I had submuscular transposition last Tues. Very good pain control and really nothing to complain about for the first week. Mon night had some mild itching around incision. I was in a splint so I couldn't do anything about it anyway. Tues. the itching continued, nothing really terrible, but I noticed it. When I went for my post-op yesterday and the doc cut my splint off I almost flipped out. Apparently I have developed an allergy to the adhesive on the steri-stips he used on the incision. I have what looks like a large (6in x 2.5in) 3rd degree burn surrounding my incision. It is red, raised, blistered, oozing, some of the skin is peeling off- it's just gross. Now I'm on mega antibiotics to ward off infection, have to change dressings a couple times a day and my medical leave was extended for another week. Crazy.

The really weird thing about it is that when I had my decompression surgery in March, I had steri-stips with no problems. Go figure.

That is strange, especially since you didn't have a reaction in March. I guess it was a different brand using a different type of adhesive.

My wife recently had minor surgery and also developed a bad reaction to the dressings. It was far worse than the surgical wound. What's weird is she was never allergic to anything until this.

Good luck with your recovery. Hope the antibiotics do their thing.

Your not the only one that has had this problem. Im really glade I ran across this. My arm did the same thing. It was extremely red, itchy, bumps, from the adhesive on the steri strips. I just used 100% hydrocortisone and it went away pretty fast.
I was also told that it has to do with the adhesive film or tape they use in the operating room on your arm when they make the cut into the skin.
You know whats funny about this . WHen I have my right arm done about 8 months ago, I didnt have any problems with the steri strips. Maybe they changed somthing in the adhesive.

Thanks Brenda and Webbie for your thoughts.

I just had my 4 week post-op appt. You can still see where i had my reaction, and there are 4 small areas that aren't quite healed, but over all much improved. Brenda, I've thought about the possibility of developing latex allergy. I have been considering sticking a latex free bandaid on just to see if I react to the adhesive, but given the severity of my reaction, I'm a little bit scared to acutally do it. I'm pretty sure the steri-strips used during my surgery were latex free. The hospital I work at and where I had my surg has been latex free for at least 8 years. We did add adhesives to my list of allergies just to be safe.

On a positive note from my post-op. My ulnar symptoms are improving. I can straighten my ring finger with a little thought and am really working on my little finger. I have developed a tendonitis in my elbow which is painful and really annoying, but my doc says that it will get better. This is the first time since my re-injury to my elbow that he feels confident that I'll have a good recovery. That makes me feel pretty good right now.