QuestionI am a 45 year old female whom due to osteoarthritis had a total hip replacement April 26,05.Everything went grand and had my stitches out May 6. That evening the seroma appeared. Freaked my husband and I out for sure, and a week-end upon us. Found out it was a seroma, but got very little information. How do you get them and how long do they last before they absorb back in your body? I can't believe I want this fluid back in my system after it has been in there this long. I see my surgion May 25, and will see then what he might do, but would like to know now, the cause and effects of this and how common it is.
I thank you for any response. Cathy Archer, North-west Kansas drylands.!
AnswerA seroma just means that there was a space where your normal liquids part of your blood (plasma or serum) could accumulate. They occur often because a pocket was made and the fluid filled up the space. They are treated various ways.... with new hardware, unless it was infected,I doubt if your surgeon wants people draining it, because of the possibility of infection. Depending on where it is, sometimes we ignore them and they slowly go away or we put some kind of pressure dressing on it. But, they are typically sterile(not infected) but you don't want it to become infected, which can happen when people have these recurrently drained. How long? Varies from weeks to a few months.
