What Causes Feeling Of Hardness Over Stitches After A C Section?

Posted on Tue, 2 Sep 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 2 Sep 2014 Answered on

Sat, 20 Sep 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : My wife underwent a c section two weeks ago. Post birth she had a drain attached to one side of the incision for four days to drain fluid. She has a lot of doscomfort internally as she feels like where the surgeon made the inscisions, it feels "hard". Im not sure what that means. She also had a blood clot between the skin and muscle in the area of the belly button which the doctors said will eventually go on its own. Is this correct ? Please advise. Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Richa Agarwal (35 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Yes your doctor opinion is right.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing to us.
I go through your wife symptoms and in my opinion-
- feeling of hardness over stitches site is normal finding. It can be due to two reasons-
1) It is due to suture which feel hard
2) After birth when uterus start contracting the feeling of hardness present.
- Yes, blood clots between skin and muscle resolve with time ( it is normal finding)- as such if her incision site is clean, dry and there is no oozing of blood or pus, these blood clot resolve automatically.
Advice from my side-
- Keep the stitches site dry and clean
- no heavy weight lifting and strenuous activity at least for 3 months.
- keep herself hydrated
- take proper rest and healthy diet
Hope I have answered your query if you have further questions I will be happy to help you.
Good luck.
Regards
Dr. Richa

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Bhagyalaxmi Nalaparaju