I had surgery on my left collarbone in June and had an allergic reaction to the tape and/or solution used (Hibiclens). The shoulder I had surgery on turned red, was hot to the touch, and burned very badly. I was advised at that time to remove the bandages, clean around the incision with alcohol wipes and redress the wound. This help tremendously and almost immediately. This past Thursday, I had surgery on the same collarbone. A few hours after surgery, I noticed the other side of my chest was broken out in hives, my breast under the broken clavicle has welts, and there were welts on my back. I was bounced back and forth by the surgeon’s office and the hospital. Finally, I was advised to take benadyrl and on Friday these red areas were more pink, but the shoulder that was operated on was like a sunburn. It was red, hot to the touch, and the incision area in general burned very badly. I undressed the wound, cleaned it with alcohol, and redressed it using sensitive skin tape. I continued to take the benadryl. Saturday, the burning was less and some of the redness turned pink. Sunday, a lot of the redness was gone, but there is now a very itchy burning rash all the way across my chest and the welts on my back have returned. No one wants to take responsibility to tell me what to do. The doctor says to call the hospital where I had the surgery or to see my PCP (which I don’t have). The hospital says to call the doctor. Everyone seems to think it is an allergy to the tape used, which is possible. It is also possible it is a reaction to the Hibiclens used to prep for surgery. I had a similar sunburn type problem on the affected shoulder with my prior surgery which went away very quickly after cleaning the wound and surrounding area with alcohol. This reaction was not as localized and does not seem to be going away. No one wants to take responsibility, and to be honest I am quite upset that this is happening again and worse this time after I told everyone I was allergic to the tape or solution used previously. But, the real question is has anyone has this same type of situation and please tell me how to remedy this before I lose my mind!
