General Chat

Does anyone have experience of skingrafts, on 20th march my oh fell while on holiday in Tunisia, it was a bad cut that needed hospital treatment , its a very long story so I will just say the conditions were not hygienic and within 2 days it was obvious that the wound was infected we arrived home on 24th and within hours he was admitted to UHW Cardiff where he had 2 trips to theatre to try and sort out the infection after a week he was transferred to Morriston hos in Swansea where he again had two trips to theatre the second to put a skin graft on the wound which is approx 10 x 3 so quite big from just below his knee to his ankle, over the weeks he has had 3 weeks oral antibiotics and 3 weeks IV , the top part of the graft seems to be healing well but the bottom part is oozing puss (sorry) I take him back to the hospital very week but last week they said to leave it 2 weeks as they have taught me how to look after it, they told me to be aware if it starts to smell( again sorry) which it doesn't but it doesn't seem to be getting any better it is quite warm and red so I would think infection is still present. Has anyone had any similar experiences of this sort of thing or am I being silly going into panic mode thanks pam

Pam my Nan had skin grafts last year on her leg....she had a similar problem . It did take time ...Mum rang the clinic straight away and then she decided to go to A&E with her.......she was given stronger antibiotics and it did take time....she is now happy skipping about on her zimmer frame......

If you can get to a walk clinic or his doctors for an early appt and let a medical look it over...if he feels unwell or has a tempature in between take him to outpatients,you are bound to worry......

sounds like its been a nasty cut Pam,,,,,,

If you are worried .............. get him back to the hospital, or at the very least to your own GP.

Don't mess around "waiting to see"

I had a skin graft on my finger, it took forever to heal and the place under my arm where they took the skin from still itches and also took a long time to heal. I can see why it would get infected if not kept scrupulously clean and even then it is iffy and takes a while to heal properly. mine was just an inch square so I can imagine the problem your Oh is having.....it will get better in time but best to see your GP if worried.

Pam,
It will heal. It just takes time for a large area.
I won't go into great detail but my mum had an horrific accident many years ago and had extreme skin graft surgery.
She was in hospital for a full year but the grafts did eventually heal.

Your GP/hospital may be able to prescribe a topical antibiotic in powder form... it worked really well on the infected edges.

I wish you luck.

Thanks all for making me feel better about this been so worried, think its going to be a trip to the gp tomorrow or a phone call to hospital and a 45 mile drive pam x

Pam you don't have much luck, do you? So sorry your holiday was spoiled by your o.h.'s nasty accident and sorrier still that he has had to go through so much with the injury.

I remember an elderly neighbour had a skin graft on an ulcer on her leg, skin taken from her thigh, and it seemed to heal well after a time. She was quite elderly tho so it would take longer I think.

Hope things start to go better soon and the graft takes properly once the infection is controlled.

Lizx