well hello again everyone.... so i thought all was going well up until yesterday when i had a post op appointment and my doc told me i needed a SECOND CLEFT LIFT. not joking. i had it this morning. i was so happy i could get in because i swear the waiting game was the worst part about my first op. at least it wasn't scary this time and i knew what to expect. basically what went wrong was that it was not shallow enough, it was coming apart, and he had to "be more aggressive". i really, Really REALLY hope i can be done with this after this heals. i can't believe this happened, but better to do something about it now than to wait longer i guess.
sorry to hear that ...but at least he realized the problem and fixed it. fingers crossed for you. I'm now 3 weeks post op with the open excision. Everything seems to be going well. Except, in the last day or two I have noticed a bit of a change in the amount of exudate coming from my wound. I hope it isn't a sign of slowing in the healing process.
How was it "coming apart?" seems like it was the surgeons fault you need another one... Perhaps go to a more experienced surgeon?
I echo cleftlifto1's sentiments!!! If it wasn't shallow enough and was coming apart that would seem to be a surgeon error, not something physiological as in a statement of the severity of your disease. I don't know the particulars of your case, of course, and perhaps your case was severe...but having to have a second lift is rather uncommon..... Here is a post I posted in response to Eagle10 in another thread about someone having cleft lift issues: Eagle10.....i am so happy to hear how you are doing. Of course, i am biased because Dr. Rosengart did my son's surgery, and he has been pilo free for over four years now....but IMO, he is one of the finest cleft lift doctor's this country has to offer, second only to the great dr. Bascom himself. Before we took Jared to him four years ago, he came HIGHLY regarded by past forum members....so he ALREADY had a good record of successful cleft lifts. Recently, some people have been having trouble with their cleft lifts....one of two things are happening. The cases of their disease is unusually severe, or surgeon error. In one poster's case, the cleft was not made shallow enough and the whole thing was coming apart. From reading her case history of her disease, I find it hard to believe that her disease was so progressed and/or she had severe scaring from previous surgeries ...both of which could theoretically cause the patient to have to undergo a SECOND cleft lift..... my assumption in her case was surgeon error. You shouldn't have to GUESS how shallow to make the cleft....there is no guesswork in a cleft lift. It is a simple surgery, but it is precise.....it has to be done correctly!!! No room for error.....even a minute one. ALOT of surgeons are new to this technique...learning the ropes so to speak....and while that is great that more doctors are becoming interested in this surgery as the news of it's success spreads, it does leave some patients open to mistakes, as the surgeons learn this simple yet precise surgery. IMO, these issues DO NOT reflect on the cleft lift itself.....the surgery has been proven successful many times over....but as more surgeons become interested in it, there are bound to be misjudgements made.......again, no reflection on the viability of this surgery. And the good news is that more surgeons ARE becoming interested in this technique....which will be of invaluable benefit to pilonidal patients in the future.
hey guys, well i can't go to a more experienced surgeon at this point because i already had the second cleft lift done. my cleft was a LOT shallower than before but i guess that wasn't enough i trusted my surgeon cause he's been doing cleft lifts for 19 years. I'm trying not to think about it that much because i can't do anything about it other than take really good care of myself and not push myself too hard this time. whats done is done, and i am just praying that this is the end of all of this. i havnt even taken off the bandage from the operation but how long would you guys suggest leaving the surgical tape on for? someone said it was a good idea to have it exposed to air, so i decided to take the surgical tape off like a week after the surgery the first time. maybe i should have left them on longer? tomorrow I'm going to be able to see it. i don't even care about the aesthetic aspect of this anymore, i just want my life back I'm so sick of laying on my sides its not even right. john- i hope the healing rate isn't changing for you. ill keep my fingers crossed for you too. are you able to drive yet?
By surgical tape, do you mean the white x tape bandage things? I only had mine on for 6 days and had my surgeon take them off when he took the drain out. Under them, I had 5 undissolvable stitches and some type of skin glue that he'll be removing next week (12 or 13 days post-op). Also, I'm sorry you've had to deal with a failed one. It seems like it would really suck to have it fail so early, but it's kind of better for it to fail earlier rather than later in my opinion. I'll pray for you and I really do hope this one works out for you.
thanks Andrea...Yes I've been driving for a while now. I still have a pretty large open wound but I have virtually no pain. I can barely tell that its there most of the time. I'm actually starting work again on monday. I drive a truck for Netflix and its a really bouncy ride so I hope I'm able to do it!
Man Andrea I'm so sorry you have to go through this twice. I know mine and other stories lead you to the decision you made so I hope everything works out for you. Good luck
well...it's like this: if the need for a second lift was because it was not made shallow enough the first time, that IS a misjudgement on the surgeons part. One would HOPE that after 19 years of doing this surgery(which does not tell us how MANY lifts he did in that span of time), that wouldn't happen......sure, everyone makes mistakes, even doctors..... these things are bound to happen from time to time, but should not reflect on the viability of the cleft lift technique.
thanks for all the kind words. don't worry people..I'm hanging in there. So this morning i got an email from this jerk: How come you never posted a picture of you cleft lift? People could make up their own mind whether the cleft was too deep? Your face doesn’t leave the Impression that you are a severely overweight person who would have an extremely large behind. just for the record I'm not obese at all... I'm a healthy 5'4" 145lbs lady who happens to have a little extra junk in the trunk. I've always had a deep cleft, and after i had the first cleft lift i still had a little bit of an actual crack... i just saw my wound for the first time since the 2nd surgery this morning, and it seems like it will be flattened out enough so it does not collect any extra bacteria. trying not to sweat the fact that i had to have two surgeries.. whats done is done and i just want to be better and have my normal life back. jaredsmom- I'm certainly not doubting the viability of the cleft lift. i still consider myself a strong believer that this is the way to go for severe pilonidal disease. yes, it sucks that i had to have 2 surgeries but id rather not dwell on that. i did as much research as i could about this surgeon before going into it. i live in the midwest, so i don't exactly have access or the means to go to any other surgeon who seemed more qualified to do a cleft lift. i went to two doctors who specialized in pilonidals before finding dr immerman. and i still consider finding him a huge blessing. http://www.evergreensurgical.com/physicians.html unluckyone- thanks girl yeah that was what I'm referring to those white strips right across the actual incision. I've heard a lot of times you should just wait for them to fall off... well they are not going anywhere anytime soon if thats the case. last time i just took them off 2 weeks post op and they were really hard to get off.. still! and that was 2 weeks later! i have my appointment to have my doc take the drain out on tuesday so ill just ask him what he thinks. john-glad your wound isn't bothering you at all, thats pretty awesome considering the amount of horror stories I've heard about that recovery process. also, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but you're going to be working overtime due to the large amount of movies im viewing via netflix
WTF that email... just... wow. I guess this person doesn't realize that you don't have to be overweight nor do you have to have a large behind for this to happen in the first place. It is one of the commonalities along with being hairy as well.. but that doesn't even have to be a characteristic for this to happen. I have the same stats as you, Andrea, with an extra inch in height, and I had a pilonidal that required a cleft lift as well. That person is just ignorant. Makes me want to take down the pictures I posted although I did it to help people who were looking into the cleft lift to see the wound and what the scar will look like.. It's not as bad as I thought at all and if I had known that, I probably would have tried to do it earlier. But yeah, at the surgery my surgeon said that he would take them off when he removed the drain if they hadn't fallen off themselves, so that's what he did. They didn't really have a chance to come off themselves because I wasn't allowed to shower for the first 48 hours and then once I was, I only showered every other day. Then he took them off 6 days post-op. I couldn't see him take them off, but it did seem they were a bit tough to get off. It didn't hurt me, though. If he had told me to take them off myself, I probably would have waited for them to fall off by themselves because I'd be too afraid of messing it up somehow. I'd definitely say ask him what he thinks about taking yours off/having them fall off! I also wanted to ask you if you had any undissolvable stitches or the skin glue like I did/do? Good luck on getting back into healing- again- hopefully for the last time
hey guys just a quick update... 11 days post op today and doing fabulous. HURRAY! hope everyone else is doing good as well!
