Stitches

Surgical incision red and burns....is it an infection?

I had surgery February 20th on my knee and on the 21st I burst a stitch. I didnt know I did and I sorta wet my finger with spit to clean away the blood, not thinking anything of it. Went to the ER and they irrigated it(rinsed it with water)after 2 hours of waiting and stitched it up again. Now its the 2nd of March and it has been red and painful for days and is swollen and the stitches themselves are all red and crusty. Could it be infected? And if so, is it dangerous or will I just take a pill go home and be ok? It burns, it doesnt sting....it burns and it is sore to the touch. Please dont call me dumb for the spit thing, I was doped up on Percocet.

Public Comments

1. Did they tell you to clean it with peroxide 3 times a day? That would help prevent infection. If it is just red there is probably no infection. If it starts to have a liquid discharge it may be infected. You could put some antibacterial ointment on it and a bandage to keep it from getting infection.
2. When it comes to things like this, follow your gut and see your doctor to confirm. If it is infected, it needs to be stopped fast with strong antibiotics and leaving it hoping the burning *may* go away is foolish IMHO.
3. It is probably infected go to the er or your doctor and they will prescribe some medicine it is probably not dangerous as long as you get it taken care of asap and honestly the spit didnt make it infected its a risk with any incision
4. it may be infected, but you should get it looked at since it should be about time to have the stiches removed. any infection especially around a surgery site has the potential for being dangerous.
5. It sounds like infection. It is important to get it seen to. Probably just a pill. If infection gets deep then something else to worry about.
6. sounds like lt is infected. l would follow up with your doctor cause your doctor may have to give you some medicated cream to put on lt to ease the pain and the redness you have