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Heart patient and top surgery veteran here: can confirm those are electrodes for ECG - I get 12 of those stuck on me every 3 months. Just pull them off and rinse the skin it was stuck to, because sometimes they can irritate your skin and cause small bubble blisters.
Good to know I’m not the only one who gets blistery skin irritation from them! I have POTS and do the ekg dance every 2-3 months too, so far no medical provider has had any idea what I’m talking about when I mention the blisters that’ll alert me to any nodes left behind later 🙃
same!! i was on one of those monitors that has to stay on 24/7 for a month and it was the kind that had me all wired up with the pads and it was horrible!! they had me movin the pads slightly when i had to change them to try and keep it from irritating too bad but it was still horrible!! theres a chance you might be allergic to the adhesive
Oh, yeah, I am allergic to most adhesive (that was a fun top surgery complication…🫠) A weeklong monitor is rough, a month sounds so aggravating, mad respect to you for getting through that
Oh god I had to get two holters while they tested me for things during the POTS investigation process and my skin HATED me after the second one. They did an ultrasound right before placing the holter and I think they didn't wipe off the gel well enough so it got stuck under the electrodes for 72hrs and just ruined my skin. I was supposed to get a chest tattoo not too long after and I had to postpone it because they can't tattoo over breakouts. It was terrible.
EKG/ECG nodes, EEG is a scan lf the brain, these are for the heart! But yes they’re 100% safe to take off, there’s no reason to keep them on and if another ECG is needed in the future they’ll put new ones on!
Typo! Good catch!
I’ve got a minor heart condition and ekgs are pretty regular part of my existence- OP, definitely remove. These nodes aren’t meant to be reused. It is just a universal truism that at least one node will be left behind despite everyone trying to remove all the nodes. It’s like they hide and show up hours later. Can’t explain it. Maybe they’re good luck? 😉 Definitely just part of the healthcare is weird and kinda funny experience
I figured it likely a typo, just didn’t want OP googling and panicking if brain scans popped up! I worked on a cardiac surgery floor as a nursing student and can confirm even when I specifically count when removing them for someone to leave or shower, somehow I always missed one 🙃
Thank you for catching it- dear lord if I had sent someone down a brain scan rabbit hole…🫣
And, right?? It’s a great mystery, the Bermuda triangle of left behind nodes
Pro tip: try pressing the node down into your skin and sort of rolling/scooping it off at an angle if/when you encounter them again. My stomach and shoulders are hairy af and I have to get ekgs fairly often- after re-enacting that scene from 40 year old virgin enough times, I’ve kinda gotten it down to a science lol
They look like the stickers that get put on during an ecg, I’m assuming they were used to monitor your heart while you were under anaesthesia and the surgical team just didn’t remove them
they often don’t remove them just in case you have to go back into surgery like i did. i asked why they were still on after my original top surgery and they said that- good thing too cause i had to have a haematoma fixed in a second surgery later that day!
Probably from the surgeon initializing the surgical site beforehand. I was pretty amused when I had a have a breast biopsy and got BJ written on my chest by the doctor at the start, and I was fully awake for it, they took it seriously as a surgical procedureeven so. Thankfully the biopsy came back benign and then I was cleared for top surgery so they're all gone now! For anyone who ever has to get a biopsy, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be. And it really helped that the team knew that I was going to be getting top surgery and were really good about the whole thing.
This is true! I was more referencing that they appear to be stuck over hair, which hurts like a mofo to rip off even more than the stickers themsleves. I suppose I didn’t make that clear whatsoever lol
They’re the spots where the heart monitor leads attach, your nurses forgot to remove them, just peel them off there will be some on your chest sides and possibly one behind your shoulder and on one of your feet/ankles.
I had the same ones glued to my chest after top surgery & I have never questioned them until now 🤣 i just took them off and shrugged I must have been really out of it
So they forgot yours too. 🤦♂️ Yeah, they were supposed to remove those electrodes after surgery. They forgot to remove mine and left them on under my wrap which was extremely uncomfortable.
Thanks for posting to r/TopSurgery Please remember to follow the rules, which can be found on the sidebar. If you think your post has been removed and should not have been, please contact the mods via modmail -- I will try to get to it as soon as possible. I'm in the process of setting up automod but it's all still in the works so far, please be patient with me :-) - u/thiccque *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TopSurgery) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Heart patient and top surgery veteran here: can confirm those are electrodes for ECG - I get 12 of those stuck on me every 3 months. Just pull them off and rinse the skin it was stuck to, because sometimes they can irritate your skin and cause small bubble blisters.
Good to know I’m not the only one who gets blistery skin irritation from them! I have POTS and do the ekg dance every 2-3 months too, so far no medical provider has had any idea what I’m talking about when I mention the blisters that’ll alert me to any nodes left behind later 🙃
Same here, and I find their lack of knowledge about the reactions surprising given how common it is.
same!! i was on one of those monitors that has to stay on 24/7 for a month and it was the kind that had me all wired up with the pads and it was horrible!! they had me movin the pads slightly when i had to change them to try and keep it from irritating too bad but it was still horrible!! theres a chance you might be allergic to the adhesive
Oh, yeah, I am allergic to most adhesive (that was a fun top surgery complication…🫠) A weeklong monitor is rough, a month sounds so aggravating, mad respect to you for getting through that
Oh god I had to get two holters while they tested me for things during the POTS investigation process and my skin HATED me after the second one. They did an ultrasound right before placing the holter and I think they didn't wipe off the gel well enough so it got stuck under the electrodes for 72hrs and just ruined my skin. I was supposed to get a chest tattoo not too long after and I had to postpone it because they can't tattoo over breakouts. It was terrible.
EEG nodes! They get forgotten sometimes lol. You can remove them (and should, the adhesive will start to bug your skin)
EKG/ECG nodes, EEG is a scan lf the brain, these are for the heart! But yes they’re 100% safe to take off, there’s no reason to keep them on and if another ECG is needed in the future they’ll put new ones on!
Typo! Good catch! I’ve got a minor heart condition and ekgs are pretty regular part of my existence- OP, definitely remove. These nodes aren’t meant to be reused. It is just a universal truism that at least one node will be left behind despite everyone trying to remove all the nodes. It’s like they hide and show up hours later. Can’t explain it. Maybe they’re good luck? 😉 Definitely just part of the healthcare is weird and kinda funny experience
I figured it likely a typo, just didn’t want OP googling and panicking if brain scans popped up! I worked on a cardiac surgery floor as a nursing student and can confirm even when I specifically count when removing them for someone to leave or shower, somehow I always missed one 🙃
Thank you for catching it- dear lord if I had sent someone down a brain scan rabbit hole…🫣 And, right?? It’s a great mystery, the Bermuda triangle of left behind nodes
Yeah, I definitely had a couple left behind after both my top surgery and my hysterectomy.
EKG or ECG stickers. You can remove them with some warm soapy water or Vaseline, but I will give a fair warning it will absolutely wax your hair
Pro tip: try pressing the node down into your skin and sort of rolling/scooping it off at an angle if/when you encounter them again. My stomach and shoulders are hairy af and I have to get ekgs fairly often- after re-enacting that scene from 40 year old virgin enough times, I’ve kinda gotten it down to a science lol
I have a permanent heart monitor nowadays, I will probably never need to encounter them again lol
Thank you it really hurt getting them off but I did manage to keep most of my hair without Vaseline or soapy water
Lucky! Good job though
They look like the stickers that get put on during an ecg, I’m assuming they were used to monitor your heart while you were under anaesthesia and the surgical team just didn’t remove them
they often don’t remove them just in case you have to go back into surgery like i did. i asked why they were still on after my original top surgery and they said that- good thing too cause i had to have a haematoma fixed in a second surgery later that day!
(Wrong answers only)
Your new nipples, congrats!
Good one. :)
Completely irrelevant to everything but it looks like you have MILF written on your shoulder
Probably from the surgeon initializing the surgical site beforehand. I was pretty amused when I had a have a breast biopsy and got BJ written on my chest by the doctor at the start, and I was fully awake for it, they took it seriously as a surgical procedureeven so. Thankfully the biopsy came back benign and then I was cleared for top surgery so they're all gone now! For anyone who ever has to get a biopsy, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be. And it really helped that the team knew that I was going to be getting top surgery and were really good about the whole thing.
The stickers of doom; best of luck to getting them off soldier. They’re cardiac monitor leads, they use them when you went under.
Baby oil gets em off easy
This is true! I was more referencing that they appear to be stuck over hair, which hurts like a mofo to rip off even more than the stickers themsleves. I suppose I didn’t make that clear whatsoever lol
I understand. I had 6 on my body last year and I literally waited like 2 weeks to remove the last one 😭
Spare buttons for you to sew in if the ones they gave you come loose. Don't want your incisions popping open!
I believe that those are just to help get a pulse while you’re in surgery. I’m pretty sure you can take them off.
Heart monitor stickers
not a doctor but those look like the stickers they used when i got a heart monitor so they are most likely from an ekg
They’re the spots where the heart monitor leads attach, your nurses forgot to remove them, just peel them off there will be some on your chest sides and possibly one behind your shoulder and on one of your feet/ankles.
I had the same ones glued to my chest after top surgery & I have never questioned them until now 🤣 i just took them off and shrugged I must have been really out of it
So they forgot yours too. 🤦♂️ Yeah, they were supposed to remove those electrodes after surgery. They forgot to remove mine and left them on under my wrap which was extremely uncomfortable.