Difficulty Removing the Buttonhole Scabs

[Black]

Anyone else having a hard time with this?  The scabs are small, recessed into the buttonholes, and seal so well and so neatly, it takes forever to dig out the scabs with a sterile needle.  Is it possible to make the scabs bigger or make them form on the surface so they can be easily pulled off with tweezers?

So far there does not seem to be any difference in whether we seal with gauze pad and paper tape, a Band-aid, or a Sure Seal.  There is no difference if we soak them for a short time or a long time, and if we leave them dry it takes longer as they break into smaller pieces.

I hate having to take so long to pick, and pick, and pick, and finally use the tweezers several times to pull the tiny pieces out of the indentation of the opening of the buttonhole.  Even with all of the picking they almost never bleed at all and Mike says it rarely hurts.  When I finally get the scab out, there is a nice, neat, clean, hole for the needle.  But it takes so damn long!!! Often 15 minutes to get both of them done!  Is there a way to do this quickly?  Will the scabs get bigger later on?  Or is 15 minutes a reasonable time for this? 

[silverhead]

Sharon is still developing her buttonholes, but what we have found works well for her is to apply a couple of small band-aids with a small amount of Mycitracin antibiotic "salve" on the pads about a hour before her session, the scabs are very soft and usually wipe off or scrape off nicely when she does it.......

[Amanda From OZ]

Black i have the exact same problem as your hubby! it takes me at least 15 minutes each session to remove them....  would like to hear what others do to remove it easier also..!

[skyedogrocks]

Rob's Nx Stage Dialysis nurse taught him this.  Before set-up, place a thin layer of gauze on each buttonhole scab and douse with peroxide.  The peroxide softens the scabs safely.  He then will put a strip of tape over each section of gauze so that it will stay on and he can go about getting everything ready.

His nurse told him to never pick at his scabs without peroxide, it can cause infection.  If a scab is stubborn he will gently pick at it with the peroxide soaked gauze.

Hope this can help anyone!  It works great for him.

[kidney4traci]

I will try this, as I too have had problems with the scab.  Especially after a day off, it is really hard to even find a scab!  It seems like the hole can sometimes close up after just one day!  Yesterday was the fitst day after my first month at home that the hole seemed to disappear completely.  I tried to pick off what seemed to be a scab and then tried to hit the botton hole with the buttnhole needle, but it wouldn't go in.  I ended up using a sharp.  I did that once before with the sharp, and then have had no problems the next time using the buttonhole needles.   Has anyone else done this?  It's like the hole needs to be reopened every once in awhile with a shrp to keep it going. 

[Black]

At least I know we aren't the only ones having trouble with this. 

In the begininning the scabs were at skin level and could be just scrapped off with a sterile needle, but now they are recessed into the buttonhole and really hard to get out. Grrrrr!  I hate wasting 15 minutes doing this but it's too important to not do it right.