Contact & assessment after surgery

If you are worried now

Contact your treating team first and describe what you can feel: where the collection is, whether it is soft or tense, whether it has changed, whether fluid is leaking, and whether the area has become red or hot. If the team cannot be reached, call the hospital main line. For a red-flag finding — a collection that is tense and shiny, fluid leaking from a wound that was closed, redness or fever with a collection, or skin over it that has changed — go to the nearest emergency department rather than waiting for a reply. This website is not an emergency channel and is not monitored as one.

Arranging a review or an aspiration

Non-urgent concerns — a soft collection that is not growing, a collection that has refilled after drainage, a collection that has been unchanged for weeks — are raised with the team that performed the operation, or through the outpatient clinic of the Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics Medical Center at Chongqing West District Hospital, 301 Huafu Avenue North Section, Jiulongpo District, Chongqing. Say when you had the operation and whether a drain was used.

What to bring

The date and type of your operation, whether and when a drain was in place and when it was removed, a photograph of the area in good light with the time recorded, and a list of your medication. If you marked the edge of the collection on the skin, say when. A comparison across a day is more useful than a description of how large the area feels.

What the assessment covers

The history first, then an examination of how the collection feels, how far it extends and whether the skin over it is healthy. Ultrasound is used where it cannot be felt clearly or where its depth matters. Where it is aspirated, the fluid is examined rather than discarded, because its appearance and what grows from it distinguish serum from blood and from infection. You should leave knowing whether it needs further drainage and what to watch for.

Fees, records and privacy

This site does not quote prices, because the plan depends on the findings and is discussed directly at consultation. What was removed, what it looked like and how the area responded is documented so that the record follows you, which matters where the area has been operated on before. Clinical information is held under the hospital's records and privacy policy.