Thyroidectomy: How to Care for Your Incision and Scar

After having a thyroidectomy, it's important to take good care of your incision to ensure proper healing and minimal scarring. I recently had a total thyroidectomy and will share the instructions I was given and some tips to help you know how to take care of your incision.

Keep it Dry. My incision only had one stitch and was primarily closed with surgical glue and steri-strips. To ensure the incision stayed closed and started to heal properly, I needed to keep the steri-strips as dry as possible for ten days after my thyroidectomy. I found out that this is easier said than done.

I was told that I could shower, but that I needed to cover the steri-strips to keep them dry. It was suggested that I use medical tape and plastic wrap. I tried this method and even put a gauze pad over the strips to absorb any water that seeped in, but it didn't work very well. Even with careful taping, water got in. Fortunately the gauze pad absorbed most of the water, but the steri-strips still got a little wet. To make matters worse, the tape majorly irritated my neck, making it itch and leaving it red and sore after removing the tape.

After trying to cover the strips a few times with plastic wrap and different types of medical tape and still having it not work well, and/or irritate my neck, I decided to try something different. Besides, all the covering and taping was very time consuming and honestly quite annoying. So I opted to have my daughter help me wash my hair over the side of the tub.

Keeping the steri-strips dry was a lot easier with my daughter pouring water over my hair while I kept a towel on my neck. After having her help wash and condition my hair, I would then carefully wash and rinse my body in the shower while holding a hand towel over the steri-strips with one hand. It may sound difficult, but it was actually quite easy and worked much better. I barely got the edges of the steri-strips wet or didn't get them wet at all while showering this way. It also wasn't time consuming nor did it irritate my neck.

Removing the Steri-Strips. The surgeon told me I could take the steri-strips off my incision ten days after the thyroidectomy and recommended removing the steri-strips in the shower after getting them thoroughly wet with warm water. I also used a gentle body wash to help loosen the adhesive while I gently and carefully removed the steri-strips little by little until they were off.

Caring for the Incision After Removing the Steri-Strips. The surgeon said that after removing the steri-strips, I could use vitamin E oil or aloe on the incision to help it heal and promote minimal scarring. I knew vitamin E oil was supposed to be really good to use on an incision, so I decided to try it. Most people can use vitamin E oil without any problems and should continue to use it for several weeks, but I quickly found out that I am one of the few that are allergic to it.

Symptoms and Treatment of an Allergic Reaction to Vitamin E Oil. No one expects to be allergic to something that is commonly used by many people without any problem, but it's good to know the signs and symptoms just in case. After using the vitamin E oil a couple of times, my incision started to become itchy, irritated, red, and raised, especially on one side for some reason. This quickly progressed to severe itching and burning and a red rash with little red bumps spreading a couple of inches each direction from incision. It felt so horrible that I wanted to rip my skin off my neck.

I used some hydrocortisone cream on it, but it didn't help, so I called the surgeon, who said it sounded like an allergic reaction to the vitamin E oil and told me to try some benadryl cream on it. The benadryl cream soothed the burning and itching at first, but it didn't last and the rash wasn't going away. Not only did the rash not respond to the hydrocortisone or benadryl cream, it kept spreading and became more inflamed even though I had no longer been using the vitamin E oil for several days.

I called the surgeon again who told me to go in to immediate care to get the rash looked at. He thought it was a persistent allergic reaction that would need a prescription to take care of it. He also said it would be good to have my incision looked at to make sure there wasn't an infection, though he didn't think there was.

So I went in to have my incision looked at and my surgeon was right, it was a persistent allergic reaction and there was no infection. I was give a prescription cream and allergy pills. I started to use the cream right away and took the allergy pills a few times. Within a couple of days, the rash was getting much better. I used the prescription cream continuously for about 2 weeks and then as needed for a few more weeks to completely clear up the itchiness and irritation.

Continued Care of the Scar. I am now at seven weeks after a total thyroidectomy and even with the allergic reaction problem, my incision has healed up great. It's important to know that even after your incision has healed you should still continue to take care of the scar for some time for optimal healing and minimal scarring. I am currently using cocoa butter to keep the scar soft and moist so it can continue to heal.

Once the weather gets nice and I start going outside again, I will be using a sensitive skin face lotion with sunscreen in it on my scar to prevent damage to the delicate skin which can result in the scar turning red or discolored and becoming raised. It is important to continue to use sunscreen on your scar on a long term basis for minimal scarring.

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