Tender,Red,Bleeding skin tissue growth around driveline at exit site

I've been living with an LVAD for four years and nine months. The condition of the skin growth around the circumference of the driveline at the exit site has been incrementally deteriorating for the last two years and now appears with a raw collar of red tissue next to the driveline velour cover (looks and feels like shingle virus lesion) and red rash extending an inch or two out on the skin from the inflamed scar tissue immediately next to the driveline. My LVAD team at MGH in Boston monitors white blood cell count and has cultured the bloody drainage twice, and they tell me that the results do not indicate an infection. Certainly there is worsening inflammation that will inevitably lead to subcutaneous infection around the driveline, if the deteriorating condition cannot be reversed. Has anyone had this issue and how can the deterioration be turned around and healing start to take place? Any thoughts or referrals would be most welcome. Living in fear of impending infection, with a high probability of death as the outcome. Jeff Maynard