The protective tape strip on my mother's surgical strip came off. What do I do?

She was discharged from the hospital with no intstructions. I was changing her bandages after a full hip replacement and the tape strip came off. They sent no supplies. Will it be ok or do I need to get another?

I was changing the bandages and the strip came off. The incisions is stapled.

If you are referring to the product called "Steri-strips" the usual intention is that they fall off on their own and that's ok. You don't tell us how long it's been since her surgery. A hip replacement scar will probably be healed in 2 weeks post-op. If there's no leakage, you don't really need a bandage. I had hip replacement and had a home care nurse who came to the house about 4 times during a 2-wk period. She put steri-strips on the day she took out the staples. They stayed there til they fell off.
Did your mom have a home nurse? If so, she'd be a good one to ask. My home nurse also brought a couple of replacement dressings and my husband changed it once. If you're not sure and there's no home nurse coming to the house, then just call the ortho surgeon's office and ask what to do.

If the incision looks like it is staying together, it should be ok. If the incision looks like it is coming apart you need to get some more, and call the Dr. as soon as you can.

If your mom was sent home without instructions then I advise you call her doctor immediatley for instructions. I wouldnt take any risks. The risk of infection is high enough without a licensed physician instructing you on what you shoud do.

First of all hope your mom gets better, and now about that tape strip, well you should call her doctor or the hospital she was in and ask about the tape strip and if you need another one; or you can go to any pharmacy and go to the section where they sell medicines and ask for tape strip and how to put them on (I bet they have those)

Hope this helped ^.^

You need to find a new doctor! I can't believe they sent her home without any new dressings. take it from me - i had the same thing happen, only from an appendectomy. If it looks fine, don't believe it. My abdomen came open from one day of not having the tape. Either purchase some, or get to your doctor ASAP!

When I had surgery on my elbow, I had staples underneath my steri-strips. My dr. told me to let them come off on their own within a 4-5 day period of being discharged. he gave me some sterile gauze to lightly apply to any discharge and instructed me to call if there were any loosening of my staples. You really need to call the dr.

It's probably best to call the doctor's office instead of asking things like this online and waiting for an answer. They would probably have dealt with it before and have a good answer. You may not need to worry about it however as it sounds like your mother won't last long in your care anyway.

iam a man,and when i had by-pass surgery on my heart,my strips came off.they are suppose to come off.they will be just fine,mine was.