Recently, the Ken Butt wound was working a bit of overtime in parts causing some overgranulation. A ridge had formed on one side of the wound which needed to be addressed. There were a few different options available for how to treat it but it was decided to start with the one that would cause the least complications.

Hydrocortisone Cream

Hydrocortisone cream is a steroid cream which is used on skin to treat itching, swelling and irritation. It’s a mild treatment that’s commonly used to treat eczema, psoriasis and insect bites.

Due to the surgery not having any hydrocortisone cream available, the treatment started on Tuesday and was covered with an adhesive ActivHeal dressing which would allow the wound to remain moist and protected. In addition to the ActivHeal, some Atrauman was added over the top of the cream and later in the week some Aquacel was used to ensure that the Ken Butt doesn’t close itself (apparently!)

So What Does The Wound Look Like?

Here’s the latest photo

After three days of the hydrocortisone cream and different dressings the overgranulation appears to have subsided but hard to see by how much.

It’s still quite friable so is bleeding easily on contact and is still leaking exudate although not a huge amount. And thankfully there is no signs of infection.

A little ‘crack’ has appeared above the wound which isn’t deep but a little sensitive when touching. Not sure what’s going to happen to that bit of the wound.

What’s Next?

The last couple of weeks I’ve been managing to have just one district nurse visit on the weekend and on the day that she isn’t there I’ve managed to change the dressing myself. This was when it consisted of a piece of Aquacel and a Zetuvit taped over it which is manageable on your own but this dressing is more tricky to self-administer.

If was applying hydrocortisone cream and covering with an Activheal I may have managed but adding a layer of Atrauman makes it nigh on impossible.

This means that I have had to go back to a full 7 days a week dressing change schedule and will have to maintain that until the overgranulation subsides. As with everything in this ongoing saga, it’s not what I was hoping for.

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Diagnosed with IBD in 2002, I have experienced the usual ups and downs of having a chronic disease and tried numerous medications but the time finally came in 2018 to elect to have surgery to improve my life. I had the surgery in 2019 and this is my journey having a 'New Bum'.

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