Hi everyone,
I’m posting because my cleft lift seems to be having trouble healing, and I’m wondering if I should be doing anything to help it. I had the surgery done in January by a surgeon who is experienced with the cleft lift procedure, and he says that my scar looks great and shows no sign of infection or recurrence of pilonidal disease. Ever since the surgery it has been painful to put pressure on the area (sitting or lying on back), and this pain got less severe during the first two months of healing but hasn’t shown improvement since then. The pain feels like a very uncomfortable burning. This pain used to go away whenever I would lie on my stomach, but recently the surgery scar opened up and now I’ve been feeling the burning pain all the time. It bled a bit but seems to already be healed back together, but the increased pain has stayed.
I contacted the surgeon and he said that my pain is likely from regenerating nerve endings inside the skin and that it should go away with time. He said that the scar opening does not indicate a problem. I am still concerned though because my pain hasn’t been improving and it’s been a pretty long time since surgery. Is there anything I can do to help the pain go away? Is it possible for a cleft lift to “fail” without a recurrence of pilonidal disease, and do you think I’ll need another one?
There are two things I should mention that might be hindering my healing process: (1) I had two surgeries from a different surgeon prior to the cleft lift procedure—both were debridements with fibrin glue—but these did not work; and (2) I have a spinal injury that affects my level of physical activity and also prevents me from lying on my side (I spend the day on my stomach).
Does anyone have advice about how to get this fully healed? I am tired of dealing with this and was discouraged by my recent increase in pain, so I’d appreciate any help I can get.
I’m posting because my cleft lift seems to be having trouble healing, and I’m wondering if I should be doing anything to help it. I had the surgery done in January by a surgeon who is experienced with the cleft lift procedure, and he says that my scar looks great and shows no sign of infection or recurrence of pilonidal disease. Ever since the surgery it has been painful to put pressure on the area (sitting or lying on back), and this pain got less severe during the first two months of healing but hasn’t shown improvement since then. The pain feels like a very uncomfortable burning. This pain used to go away whenever I would lie on my stomach, but recently the surgery scar opened up and now I’ve been feeling the burning pain all the time. It bled a bit but seems to already be healed back together, but the increased pain has stayed.
I contacted the surgeon and he said that my pain is likely from regenerating nerve endings inside the skin and that it should go away with time. He said that the scar opening does not indicate a problem. I am still concerned though because my pain hasn’t been improving and it’s been a pretty long time since surgery. Is there anything I can do to help the pain go away? Is it possible for a cleft lift to “fail” without a recurrence of pilonidal disease, and do you think I’ll need another one?
There are two things I should mention that might be hindering my healing process: (1) I had two surgeries from a different surgeon prior to the cleft lift procedure—both were debridements with fibrin glue—but these did not work; and (2) I have a spinal injury that affects my level of physical activity and also prevents me from lying on my side (I spend the day on my stomach).
Does anyone have advice about how to get this fully healed? I am tired of dealing with this and was discouraged by my recent increase in pain, so I’d appreciate any help I can get.
