Weird smell?

[Jennifer]

Has anyone else experienced this.....after Emily's first surgery and now after this one.....she has a weird smell to her head....it really only smells right after a shower or bath....I don't remember how long it took to go away last time...but it did go away.....??????

[Rhonda O]

I remember that smell. I thought that it was just me. But I don't remember when it went away either.

[Katie]

Did Emily have staples or stiches? Dillon had staples and I don't remember a smell. What is the smell similar too?

[cheryl2]

I do remember that smell. I called it "hospital smell." I don't remember how long it lasted. I thought it was me going crazy :-)

[Jennifer]

Emily has stitches....It's like nothing I've ever smelled......we call it the 'surgery smell' at our house :lol

[KALEMSMOM]

Ya we had it here too...If I remember right it smelled for about 3 weeks, not stinky just different.

[verdon2]

:puke Yes, it was a very odd-not stinky- smell. It made me want to barf though. And until this day if I smell something similar to it I get nautious. It must have something to do w/ the stitches or staples. :shrug Who know!? I just hope I never smell it again....

[plukids]

Same here.......surgical smell. I would say a few weeks it lasted. Never was quite sure what caused the smell. Good question to pick the surgeon's brain with though. Let us know if you find anything out.

[Gwen]

yeah, Joshua and Jacob also had that smell. They also had stitches. It smelled kinda like a bandaid. Maybe it's just the way your head smells when you have no hair on it. I'm not sure when it went away.

[Jennifer]

Yes, it is a bit of a bandaid smell---though worse.....They didn't shave any of Emily's hair..so I'm not sure about that....all I know is I can smell it most when it is wet....we played at a part fountain today and she got soaked- and that's the first thing I smelled....it's starting to make me nautious...I think in my mind I now associate it w/ the actual surgery....ewww!

[KALEMSMOM]

ewww is right and they didn't shave Kalem's head neither.

[mikaylasmommy]

From my understanding they make the dissolveable sutures out of pig intestine. That could be the smell!? I could be wrong but I think my Dr. told me that because we had some resurface about 2 months after surgery.

[Jennifer]

From my understanding they make the dissolveable sutures out of pig intestine. That could be the smell!?

Eeww! Eewww! Eewwwwww!

[KALEMSMOM]

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question611.htm

Types of self-dissolving sutures:

* Catgut (old technology): Natural fibre made from the submucosa of the bovine intestine. Excites considerable inflammatory reaction and tends to potenciate infections. It loses strength rapidly and it's of little use in modern surgery. Plain catgut dissolves more quickly than the type treated with chromium salts.

* Vicryl / Dexon (Polyglactin): Dissolves slower than catgut, but causes less of a reaction on implantation. Used below the surface of the skin. Also used in areas where suture removal might jeopardize the repair such as with small children who might not easily cooperate with suture removal.

* Vicryl Rapide: Similar substance to Vicryl, but absorbed in a shorter period (5 days). Recent development, worth asking your surgeon about.

* Monocryl: The least reactive substance of this group, and should leave least scarring. Unfortunately this is not a very soft material and may be slightly irritating while the stitches are in place.


Just some FYI

[Rhonda O]

This is not a good thread for someone having major morning sickness to read. lol I am done for a little while.

[Jennifer]

Thanks for the info....

Sorry about the morning sickness!