Can Mr Squad or others indentify what it is?

[Greedyfly]

I broke my ankle over a year and a half ago and since had three surgeries to fix said ankle. One to plate and pin it, one to remove plates and pins and a third because my ankle was too loose in the joint so everything has been tightened up - it always felt like it was going to snap again & the pain was constantly there. The last surgery was about 3 months ago and since I have been having regular physio as the joint is super tight at the moment and we are trying to get range of movement back (pain still there but as I said surgery wasn't that long ago and its really tight).

I have been using BIO OIL on my scars to help relieve the tightness in the skin (its very uncomfortable when I stretch my ankle etc...) But since having my stitches out there is a hard lump a bit smaller than a pea which is quite painful to touch and again hurts when I stretch the skin right at the bottom of my scar. At first I thought it maybe scar tissue and kept massaging it but to no avail. My physio mentioned it to me last week and basically said he didn't know what it was and that it shouldn't be there. What can it be?

I have a consultant app in a few weeks so will mention it then but I am interested to know what it is and why its there?? Any ideas?

Thanks

[Greedyfly]

Also how likely is that I will need it cut out?

[Sqad]

Two things come to mind.

a) Retained stitch.
b) Traumatic neuroma.

My bet would be a) but Google b) and see what you think.

[Sqad]

Sorry....just seen your last question. If it causes trouble....very likely needing "cutting out"

[Greedyfly]

Forgot to mention my stitches were dissolvable ones - would it still get stuck?

There are no markings on the skin aside from typical scarring after so much surgery

Thanks for you answer Squad

[Sqad]

Greedyfly...even though they are "dissolvable" there is always a knot at one end and this may not dissolve.

[stonekicker]

greedyfly - my dissolvable stitches from having a mole removed and it annoyed me so much i ended up digging it out. sounds like your problem is similar... x

[Greedyfly]

Cool... Thanks for the info. I will have to get the doc to do it me thinks... They are really low on my outside ankle and since surgery it doesn't bend so well for me to get to. I have been prodding at it today and there seem to be a couple of them. I am guessing my student nurse didn't get them all when she was removing them.