Ready for Casting or not?

[lynne]

Hi Guys,
I am recovering well from my 6th revision surgery which I had on the 20th November.
The surgery was quite radical and left me with a huge scar from my hip all the way down and around my stump and up the my groin!
Unfortunately most of the wound reopened when the staples were taken out and had to be pulled back together with steri strips for another week.

I am due to be casted for a leg on 28th Dec but still have a few areas of my scar that have not healed and still have dressings on. I am concerned that they might not be healed in time. I am worried about putting the seal in liner on to be casted when the scar is so recently healed...if indeed it is healed in time.

Question.....Have any of you been casted whilst you still have open or tender wounds and or dressings on and how did putting a liner on effect the open wound?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I am leaving it as long as possible before I try a liner on, I am wearing a juzo (shrinker) but my prosthetist wants me to try and wear the liner as soon as possible to help shrinkage prior to fitting.

I have to drive 7 hours to this casting/ fitting appointment and don't want to travel all that way for him not to be able to cast me.

Lynne

[allenuk]

Hello Lynne.

One for your prosthetist, I'm afraid. But I must say my first reaction would be no, you can't get cast while you've got open wounds. Which will be a bummer if it's true.

Waiting around like this has got to be almost THE worst thing, hasn't it, and it doesn't matter whether you're private or NHS, that damned cut ain't going to heal any faster.

Keep us posted, Lynne, and I really hope I'm wrong.


Thinking of you.


Allen.

[ann58]

Lynne,

Like Allen, I would prefer not have a casting while I still had an open wound...and I definitley would not wear my prosthesis over something that was'nt completely healed.

Maybe your leg-guy thinks it is healed.

[lynne]

Thanks Allen and Ann58,

He knew it had opened up after the staples were taken out and that it was being held together with steri strips when he gave me my appointment and advised me to wear a liner to help shrinkage before I go for casting.
I am having my dressings changed on Wednesday so hopefully it may be improved and given that my appointment is in a few weeks I hope it will be fully healed by then. I am not going to try and put the liner on until it is fully healed as it may cause a problem. Either through the process of putting it on or with infection due to the enclosed sweaty environment.
I just wondered if anyone had any experience of such a situation.

Thanks anyway.

Lynne

[Tom]

I have a skin graft that was barely healed when I was cast for the first socket. Of course it split open after wearing the leg a very short time and I spent 9 months sitting around waiting for it to heal before I could try again.

[Not a doctor/prosthetist disclaimer here]

If you're wearing a Juzo, it seems to me that you'll get all the benefits of shrinking without putting your stump in the unfriendly environment of a liner. I didn't wear a liner at all during the healing process, there was no point to it.

[lynne]

Thanks,
Had deressings changed again yesterday and it is looking a little better. They put innadine on it under the dressings to try to dry it out.

I am hoping it will be completely dry by the time I am casted on the 28th Dec. I did try the liner on and it was pretty painful actually putting it on I can tell you! I am sticking to the juzo until I have no choice but to put the liner on for casting.

Lynne

[mom2noble]

My little man had just barely healed when he got casted and then the scar tissue was still very tender when he got his leg about 1 week later. His wound had opened up and then had to heal from the inside out. It took about a month for it all to be scared over it well and it the scar tissue was still very new. He got casted just as the last open area looked scared over. Wearing a nylon sock helped him alot. He got blisters that formed in the scar line at first that i used neosporin on. He only wore the leg for a few hours a day for the first week and then we added time for the second week until he wore it the entire day I think the nylon stocking helped alot and he still wears it under his silicone liner.