Armpit Red and Sticky

[orabshire]

My God, We had instructions not to lift Owen's injured arm after primary surgery for 4 weeks. We resumed baths after 14 days when the stitches dissolved. We started bathing him every 2-3 days and made the effort to wash and dry his armpit without lifting his arm too much, then last night we noticed it got extremely Red and Sticky!! It looked like Athletes foot and we got very upset. When I pulled his arm up to see, it peeled away from the skin.

Now we are thinking the times he cried unbearably could have been caused by this!! It could have been itchy, burning, painful, etc. and we didn't know! We cleaned it and put powder under his arm to dry it out as much as possible. Has anyone else's child suffered from this? I feel like such a bad parent for not knowing about this and don't know how long it was irritating him.

I'm also concerned about the stitches because they did not completely dissolve! Some are sticking out and they won't come out easily so I left them alone.

Is there anything else I should know about that he might be going through. It breaks my heart to hear my son cry and moan and not know what's wrong. He is a good boy and I know he only cries like that when he is in pain or irritated.

[cybermomx4]

Do not panic !!! My son had the same symptoms....
First off, stop the powder till you call down to TCH.
This can cause more yeast if it is a yeast infection.
My son had primary
4 years ago and I cannot remember about the stitches sticking out. TCH told me how to resolve that....sometimes they just do not resolve

[Allison]

I'd take him to see the pediatrician. The incision may be infected. As for the stitches sticking out, Bradley had that also. Just leave them alone, don't try to pull them out. They will disolve on there own. It took a couple of weeks for us. Keep the wound clean, and as dry as you can.
Allison

[LeeAnne]

If it is red and sticky and itchy and smells like homemade bread (think yeast) then that is just what it is- try to keep the area as dry as possible and ask the doctor about using something on it before you do.Don't feel bad. In my first few weeks as a mother i was so gentle with michaela especially around her shoulders and neck that i didn't clean or dry the wrinkles good around her neck till I started smelling "bread" around her neck. As I examined the wrinkles it was the same as you're describing, red and sticky and a white film of skin rolled on my fingers.I felt so bad but I learned to keep her neck wrinkles good and dry. Live and Learn!!!! LeeAnne

[Francine_Litz]

Go to pediatrician ASAP... he/she will define nature of the problem and get you the right medication.

Hope things clear up soon!
-francine

[claudia]

We had this problem too!
We had the stubborn stitches removed by a plastic surgeon. The pediatrician didn't want to mess with it, so they referred me to a fabulous guy. It was painless.

As for the icky arm. Get it checked out so you can treat it the right way. However, washing with mild soap and water and really getting it to dry will help.

Juliana had crud under her arm until we did modquad. Even though I would wash and dry, she still was icky under there until she could move her arm more. I used to take her shirt off and do tummy work (over a rolled towel) just to try to get air in there...

This too shall pass...

claudia

[Karen Hillyer]

Hey Roy
hopefully you can see ( thanks to all the families here!), this is quite common post operatively, our son Gavin had this after his primary surgery and also after his third surgery, it cleared up with some anti-biotic cream after the third surgery and after some anti biotic powder after the primary.
don't worry too much about the sutures, Gavin's took about 6- 8 weeks to disolve completely.
As long as you get Owen checked out by someone, I'm sure you will find that this is quite "normal" ( sorry an't think of a better word!)
good luck
Karen