Post surgery supplies?

[Ayden]

I'm in the process of purchasing everything I will need for when I'm post op and had a quick question. I've seen a lot of posts talking about silicon tape and medical tape to put over the incisions and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations, or if I will get what I need at my post op appointment. Also, since I'm taking a very long flight overseas, I am thinking I may bind to avoid pulling at my stitches too much. Does Dr. G give out an ace bandage or anything similar for that purpose? I have a "binder" that is really just a glorified strip of material with Velcro that I can use. It's comfortable enough but for binding my chest it slides a lot and required to much adjusting of the twins.

[Bimmer Guy]

I'm in the process of purchasing everything I will need for when I'm post op and had a quick question. I've seen a lot of posts talking about silicon tape and medical tape to put over the incisions and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations, or if I will get what I need at my post op appointment. Also, since I'm taking a very long flight overseas, I am thinking I may bind to avoid pulling at my stitches too much. Does Dr. G give out an ace bandage or anything similar for that purpose? I have a "binder" that is really just a glorified strip of material with Velcro that I can use. It's comfortable enough but for binding my chest it slides a lot and required to much adjusting of the twins.

You won't be using any kind of scar treatment until the incisions heal.  Garramone recommends two weeks.  Don't buy his Scar Guard.  You can get it cheaper online, plus you may not want to use that, anyway (it peels off easily).  Read the top surgery recovery thread.  There is a lot of information on scar treatments, especially at the beginning of the thread, as there was 5 of us going through the healing process at the same time.

Academic/medical studies have shown that the ONLY product that helps with scarring is silicone.  Not Mederma, not Bio Oil (I also pasted a link about how unhealthy that is), etc.  Both Jay and I are advocates of Scar Away, either the gel or strips.  Some guys (Kreuzfidel and SX with numbers, I think), felt the micropore tape really helped with not stretching the scars and healing (?), as well.  I couldn't get the tape to stay on my body.

Garramone will give you an ace bandage.  He does not require usage and he only gives it to you because he says he has found that it reminds guys to not raise their arms.  It is not given to you to "bind" (if that makes sense), but if it makes you feel comfortable to make it tight, you can.

[aleon515]

Amen on the Scarguard. It stinks to high heaven (which no one seems to mention), peels off and doesn't last long. I'd try the strips as these work nicely and if you get tired of them you can go to the gel. I didn't hear about Micropore til later. I don't need it anymore 7 months post-op. I bought the Bromelian and Arnica locally but not sure if you can get these in Japan, but they were quite a lot cheaper. I think they are helpful.

I cut the ace bandage tensor in half, it was way way too long. But it was helpful initially. I got to the point of not using at long as he is recommending. I figured I had the self-discipline to recall that I had surgery and to be careful. I had no problem recalling I had surgery.   He tells the story of some whacky kid going on and jet skiing two weeks after surgery. I've always thought it was apocrophal, but he did start asking people to do this about a year ago. I think the bandage, if worn on the outside, might remind OTHERS.
(Poor Jack might have benefitted.)

--Jay, clone reporting in as required

You won't be using any kind of scar treatment until the incisions heal.  Garramone recommends two weeks.  Don't buy his Scar Guard.  You can get it cheaper online, plus you may not want to use that, anyway (it peels off easily).  Read the top surgery recovery thread.  There is a lot of information on scar treatments, especially at the beginning of the thread, as there was 5 of us going through the healing process at the same time.

Academic/medical studies have shown that the ONLY product that helps with scarring is silicone.  Not Mederma, not Bio Oil (I also pasted a link about how unhealthy that is), etc.  Both Jay and I are advocates of Scar Away, either the gel or strips.  Some guys (Kreuzfidel and SX with numbers, I think), felt the micropore tape really helped with not stretching the scars and healing (?), as well.  I couldn't get the tape to stay on my body.

Garramone will give you an ace bandage.  He does not require usage and he only gives it to you because he says he has found that it reminds guys to not raise their arms.  It is not given to you to "bind" (if that makes sense), but if it makes you feel comfortable to make it tight, you can.

[SX0877]

Maybe Brett confused me with someone else. I used scaraway strips, but I cannot say if/how much they helped since I only used them for ~2 wks.
Also I used a lot of neosporin, vaseline, small bandaids to cover the drain holes and gauze pad or large bandaids to cover the grafts.

[aleon515]

Well 2 weeks wouldn't be long enough to tell about this stuff.
Not sure how long would be long enough though.
Another good thing to have for this all is cortisone cream. If you have itching around from bandages (after the large bandages are removed, it took the edge of the allergic responses I had, these kind of reactions aren't uncommon, afaik).

--Jay

[Bimmer Guy]

Maybe Brett confused me with someone else. I used scaraway strips, but I cannot say if/how much they helped since I only used them for ~2 wks.
Also I used a lot of neosporin, vaseline, small bandaids to cover the drain holes and gauze pad or large bandaids to cover the grafts.

Sorry, SX0877, I did get you confused.