Had Portacath Removed From Chest, Discolouration And Bumps Around The Wound. Should I Be Worried?

Posted on Fri, 5 Apr 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 5 Apr 2013 Answered on

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I had a porta-cath removed from my chest a week ago. Just removed the steristrips to find discoloration around wound. Redness and a bunch of little bumps plus slightly itchy. Should I be worried? Staph?

Answered by Dr. Kalpana Pathak (1 hour later)

Hi,
Thanks for writing to us.
I have gone through the attached image, the redness , slight oozing and small vesicles have developed due to a contact irritant reaction to steristrips.
The treatment requires application of steroid cream like fluticasone or mometasone cream and oral antihistamines like cetirizine. I hope in five days to a week lesions would considerably improve.
Hope that answers your query.
Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar