Ongoing scabs driveline

When my driveline tore my LVAD team told me this is pretty normal around 2 to 2-1/2 years of use.  They cut off the excess (sheath  seemed  to have stretched) and used a stretchy, white tape to repair it.  They said the tape is used for hull repairs in boat shops and is waterproof.  Don't have an actual name or brand to help further.

Might as well jump in on this also.  My wife was advised by LVAD team to use hydrogen peroxide about one a month to clean this scab off.  I lay on my side and she pours it into the well where the drive line exits.  She then takes a sterile gauze to soak it up but leaves it wrapped  around the line  for a few minutes.  Finally she gently uses a sterile swab in the LVAD kit to "coax" it off.  If it doesn't come off easy just wait and try again at next dressing change.  Key is the soaking.

So you pour hydrogen peroxide right into the driveline hole?  Really and it helps with the scab?  
 

My husband has the opposite problem, no scab too damp all the time.  He retains fluid so he is constantly draining .  I change his sight at least two times a day.  It comes out like turning on a faucet.   Really rings up the $$ of dressings.  
His wife and care giver , Susan

Yes.  Where my drive line exits there is a well area when I lay on my side.  Area is always dry with NO drainage of any kind.  When I first started having these scabs they cultured them to verify it was not an infection and then recommended the hydrogen peroxide because as the scabs grew they would stick me.

My LVAD team asks me every time I see them if the site is red or has any drainage.  They also look at it.  Again, they stated the drainage may be a sign of possible infection which is why I recommended contacting them to make sure.  Changing the bandage 2 times a day doesn't even sound right so can't be good I'm thinking.  But I'm lucky because my Medicare Advantage program pays full cost of the bandage kits I use.

Sorry I can't help more.  Only other suggestion I've got is to contact your state health agency and see if they can possibly assist in some way.  Other than that I wish you the best!

Stan

I am the caretaker of an lvad patient from what I see it will always scab a bit no worries it will always do that they fall of with dressing changes and reform just don't pull them off it can bleed I put extra spong cloth under the line to make him comfortable untill the scab falls off its is normal 

I'm not sure why I have not had problems with scabbing or infections. Maybe I'm just lucky. I am an 81 year old Destination Therapy patient now out ten years and five months out from my Heartmate II implant in 2010. So far, no scabs, no infections, no pump problems. To repeat what I have said in earlier posts, I shower at least weekly and never cover the drive line dressing. It just gets sopping wet in the shower. I remove it when I dry off after the shower and my wife cleans the area throughtly using swabs provided by Continuum Services, then she puts on the bio-patch (very important) and the rest of the dressing. I never use foley anchors. We change the dressing only once a week. We have traveled quite a bit including a trip to Italy so have been exposed to a wide variety of water sources to shower with. There are varying techniques used by different centers, apparently with some working better than others. If your VAD team does not know about all the "best practises" something is wrong. I am not recommending this procedure for everyone but it has been working for me for a long time. 

My husband would get the scabs quite frequently and they build up to the point that the LVAD team started calling it an alien.

he had almost a consistent drainage they would swab it tested sometimes just for precautionary reasons they put him on an antibiotic.