catheter site

[lynnrlpd1]

I have been doing PD for four months and I'm concerned about my catheter site.  It has a fair size scab on one side  since the beginning.  I've been doing the salt saline soaks to try and remove it but nothing gives.  I do the soaks about every other day.  I guess I will try every day.  My nurse tells me this needs to come off if I want to shower in the near future and that the site should look just like a tube coming out with no scabs.  Any ideas.

[billybags]

Are you sure it is a scab and not a bit of the gauze fastening that they stitch inside your peritoneum. My husbands neph had to shaved  some off  the side of his cath last month because it was poking through, looked like a brown bit of gauze, just a thought.

[Weggy]

I am going to second billybags idea. It could be the cuff that is inside of you and it can pop out.

Four months seems like a long time for healing. I had my catheter put in on June 6, 2012 and I was doing PD on June 22, 2012. I was taking a shower a couple days before I started PD. My clinic's procedure was to inspect the exit site during those initial days of training and they would change the dressing. After that, the care was left up to me.

Assuming it is not the cuff:

Are you cleaning your exit site daily?
Were you given any ointment for your exit site?

[lynnrlpd1]

Yes I did the cream for about six weeks.  Maybe it is the cuff but then again it is white and crusty so I don't think it is the cuff.  The nurse had a special name for it when it is like that but I can't remember what she called it.

[BattleScars]

I've been on PD for over a year and I always have a scab. It's like crusty. Sometimes it's worse than other times. The nurses don't seem to be concerned as long as there is no sign of infection. I just wonder why it keeps coming back? It gets to a point where it falls off or washes off in the shower and then I put new dressing on and it's back a few days later. I also have a little bit of tissue that grew around the top of the exit site but again the nurses say that some people get this.

[dh514]

I am not recommending this but just stating what has worked for me. I have been on PD for almost five years and the first three years had a scab at all times. I did the salt soaks and it came off and would come right back. What worked for me was to stop covering it up. After a month of so the scab came off and never grew back. I have had no issues with not covering it and have never had peritonitis. The only time I do cover it is for my monthly nurse visit.

[Grumpy-1]

I did PD for 3 years and had a scab for the first 6 months.  I showered with not issues and keep the site clean and dry as possible.  Finally, it cleared up on it's own and never had a site infection.  Grumpy