Removal of steristrip glue?

[lolenona]

My steristrips are finally off of my neck but I have so much glue residue stuck around the scar. So it leaves me with a really silly question...how can I take it off without scrubbing the heck out of my throat/neck? Also, did any or all of you with Anterior discectomy/artificial disc replacement get bad scars? If so, how long did it take for it to start to "disappear"? I would appreciate your advice Thanks

[Jack-of-all-trades]

Necks, at least the front, heal up fast when compared to other body parts. We use to remove the sutures at 4 days post-op with no problems to reduce the chances of having a "railroad" looking scar. If your skin was closed with a subcutaneous, desolving suture with steristrips overlaid you should be able to gently wash it in the direction of the incision with plain soap without a lot of additives and water, not perpendicular to the incision. I have used alcohol but it is kind of drying to some peoples skin on their face and neck. H. Peroxide is not good.

Necks will surprise you how well they heal with a minimal scar. Skin on our faces and necks rarely get infected as the circulation is so good. The big thing is keep soapy water off with sutures and especially, God forbid staples were used, until after they are removed. They can wick soap, and normal skin bacteria into the skin making the railroad track (little dots on either side of the incision) worse. Another no-no is to go out in the sun without something blocking the sun. The scar will get sunburned much faster than normal skin for several months making the scar worse.

[lolenona]

Thanks for the advice! I will give it a go...my scar looks pretty horrible...with a flap on one side but I think it's from when my daughter threw herself around my neck the day I came home from surgery. I'm hoping good care will make it lot better. I just invested in a few scarves to avoid the sun

[Metalneck07]

Hello Glad to hear your on the road to healing. I have had 2 surgeries at C5-6 . 1st one was ADCF that didn't fuse and 2nd Revision surgery for the 1st. I agree with Jack-of -all- trades good advice. I found as well just plain soap and water gently washing and patting dry allowing to air dry worked terrific.And as soon as the incision has healed I used Mederma product daily. Also if I was out in the sun always applying sunscreen to my neck. If you we're to walk up to me and didn't know I had surgery on my neck you wouldn't see my scars.Good Luck in the days to come with your healing.
Caitlin aka Metalneck07
*Scarves are a great idea I did the same as well !! Besides they look great . *

[Justin]

I agree with the advice above. Use soap and warm water...make sure to be gentle (it will come off in good time).

[Greg]

In my research of trying to find the best product to help reduce and minimize the scar from my 2 level anterior lumbar fusion I found some very interesting information. Now dont quote me on this as it hasnt been long enough to confirm/deny this information but from what I've read is that it doesn't really matter what cream or lotion you use, the main thing that helps the scar is rubbing the scar and not primarily the lotion/cream. This isn't to say that lotions/creams dont help as I'm sure they do but rubbing the scar is the main thing that helps heal up and reduce the scar.

I havent used a single drop of lotion on my scar and I'd have to say it looks pretty good so far. Now I put a lot of focus on touching up the incision after the surgery to make sure the skin matched up perfectly. There were a couple spots where the glue (yes thats right.....they glues me together! No stitches or staples....well stitched internally but just glue on the outside. Which wasnt that bad except they didnt put any cream on top of the glue to prevent it from sticking to the gauze...OUCH!!!) didn't hold together very well and I had a few spots where the skin didnt meet together perfectly so I used some steri strips to pull the skin back together to make a nice seam. I even had one spot where they did a horrible job of closing me up that I had to reopen the incision (barely though) to straighten it out and get a nice seam. And then when I saw the doctor he had the audacity to look at my incision and comment on how great of a job that was done in closing it up. I made sure to remind him that I had to go behind his handy work to make sure I didnt end up with a miniature version of the rocky mountains on my stomach

So whatever product you may use to help out your scar remember that rubbing the lotion on your scar is the biggest thing you can do to help out your scar as its what contributes the most. I rub mine as often as I can remember and like I said, I've used no scar lotions and it looks great for what they did to me. Take a look....

[KBear]

I also was glued shut, no external staples or stitches (assuming there were dissolvable stitches internally). I didn't have any gauze or anything covering it, since it was glued. It was like super glue covered the entire thing and went over on each side, so none of the incision was exposed. I was able to shower and do whatever immediately, since it was protected. I will definitely ask for that closing again if I have more surgery (hoping they can do that when this baby is born via C-section). I wonder why more doctors don't use the glue? Seems easier and less chance of infection. Anyone know the answer to this?

[Greg]

I also was glued shut, no external staples or stitches (assuming there were dissolvable stitches internally). I didn't have any gauze or anything covering it, since it was glued. It was like super glue covered the entire thing and went over on each side, so none of the incision was exposed. I was able to shower and do whatever immediately, since it was protected. I will definitely ask for that closing again if I have more surgery (hoping they can do that when this baby is born via C-section). I wonder why more doctors don't use the glue? Seems easier and less chance of infection. Anyone know the answer to this?

I dont know the answer to your question but am going to take a guess based purely on logical resoning and past experiences when multiple options for a solution where available and the doctors choice was based on preference. I think PREFERENCE is a big factor in choosing and one of the "well thats what we've always done" kind of things. It seems like stitches have been the long running standard, then came staples and the newest is glue. So I would think that would be the order of most used choices. But I would put my bet on the fact that different options for closing an incision have different pros and cons and after the options have been narrowed down to what would work for the given situation, then doctors preference would kick in.

• For my arthoscopic (or endoscopic....cant remember) shoulder surgery the incisions were (3) 1/4" cuts and (1) 1/2" cut. Since they used a tube to work through there wasnt much cut up internally and no internal stitches were needed. Staples were used to close me up.
• For my L4-S1 ALIF I had a 4" incision that cut through a lot of internal parts. Internal stitches were needed and used to hold my guts together and glue was used on the exterior of the incision. I think glue was a good viable option for this procedure because of all the internal stitches used that provided most of the support holding everything together. So in this case, glue was a good choice since it didnt have to provide all the support and was only holding the top layer of skin together.

Like I said in the beginning, my response is just a guess and nothing more than that.....so dont quote me on it or beat me up too much or bash me hard if I'm wrong I think glue is a great choice for closing up a wound given the right situation. Glue gives you the best chance of preventing any foreign objects from entering the wound, holds the wound together very well, doesnt leave railroad marks like staples, doesnt close a wound like stitches where some spots are closed tighter than others, doesnt require a follow-up visit to have it removed, enables you to take a shower very soon after surgery, and "supposedly" falls off once the wound is fully closed and healed. Glue sounds pretty awesome when you spell it out like that....just as long as the conditions are right and can allow it. For example I dont think glue would be a good choice if used in an area that would be put under a lot of stress and stretching that would put pressure on the incision threatining the wound from spliting apart....I would think thats where staples (or stitches) would work the best.

[Jack-of-all-trades]

One factor is speed in closing the skin. That is the reason one of the surgeons I worked for used staples. They are not considered to be a cosmetic closure but they are fast. If I were female and young (meaning 45 or less, [I's amazing how the concept of young and old change the older a person gets]) I would make sure staples were not used in an area where a swimsuit would reveal the scar.

I'm not familiar with the super glue method.

Speaking of swimsuits, it is generally not advisable to go into pools until all the scab has come off, assuming there are no other places open into the wound. Pool water his been indoctrinated with Pseudomonas, a very onry Gram - backteria that loves wounds. Kids pee and poo in pools too.

[KBear]

I asked my OB how he would close me up after C-section and he said staples (that just sounds freaking painful). I asked why not the cool glue. He said that there is sometimes oozing from the wound (not like an infection; just normal stuff I guess) and that if it is glued that can't get out and can cause problems, whereas the staples allow that to get out if needed. Makes sense. So, guess it just depends on what the surgery is, where and who the surgeon is. Oh, he described it better than I did, but I've got the pregnant brain and can't remember crap. LOL