Dry skin

Early on after I had the surgery I experienced dry skin like I've never known before. I had it everywhere - on my back, arms, legs, hands, face, buttocks and around my tummy. I believe the dry skin is caused by reduced fluid intake during the surgery and in the first days and weeks post-op. My tummy area was made much worse by the fact that my skin does not react very well to having anything sticky stuck to it! After surgery I had some fairly large adhesive dressings on, plus steri-strips underneath. When I eventually took them all off my skin was red raw and very itchy. I got some treatment advice from my dietitian and nurse but nothing they suggested worked. In fact, one product I was recommended actually made my tummy itching and soreness a lot worse!

In the end, I resorted to an off-the-shelf standard remedy - E45 cream. I thought I'd update you on progress since this might be useful for anyone currently going through the post-surgery phase. Basically, E45 cream has done the trick! I have been rubbing it in my tummy area and all around the scars since the op and all of the redness and itching was considerably improved within a week or so of starting use it. There's also a slightly stronger variety called E45 Itch Relief cream - I used this for a while too in the most itchy areas.

Probably, many bandits don't experience the sort of semi-allergic reaction to adhesive dressings that I did. But for me, the skin soreness around my tummy and associated itching lasted much longer than any surgery-related pain or discomfort. After I had got the first week behind me the skin problem was by far the worst post-op problem I faced.