My Husband Just Recently Had Knee Surgery . His Swelling

Posted on Sun, 6 Jan 2019

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

Sun, 6 Jan 2019 Answered on

Last reviewed on

Question : My husband just recently had knee surgery. His swelling is getting worse not better. It has been 2 weeks post op. He now has developed a lump on the outside of his knee which is red and squishy. His whole knee is rock solid except this lump that is mushy like. We went to a walk in clinic since our surgeon is 300 miles away and he said he was going to take a picture and send it to a friend for help :(. He started antibiotics and today the same spot that was red and mushy is now purple and you can start to see his veins going down to this calf.

Answered by Dr. Dr.Dorina Gurabardhi (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Probably a cyst due to surgical procedure, more details are needed.

Detailed Answer:
Hello dear and welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

The symptoms of your husband are probably related to seroma.

Seroma looks like a swollen lump or a cyst which is filled with fluid.

It usually develops after a surgical procedure.

A photo of the lump would be helpful to help me through the diagnosis.

More details that I may need are:

Does your husband have fever?

Does he have pain in the lump area?

Does he feel rapid heart rate?

When these cysts are red they usually have an infection.

So, I would recommend to continue using antibiotics.

I will be waiting for your response to be able to help you better.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T