Lasting Bump Under Skin At Infusion Site?

Hi all, I’ve just started pumping, and am now on my second infusion set, 5 days in.

At the site of my first set, it was getting red along the track of the cannula (pointed inward from the adhesive on my abdomen) by the time I removed it, and it was pretty red externally when I pulled it off after 3 days. Now, another 2 days later, the skin irritation seems to be gone, but there is a bump under the skin when the infusion cannula from the first set went. It was there yesterday morning after I pulled the thing off the previous night, and seems slightly smaller now (the lump seems like it may be less pronounced), but this is worrying me, as I don’t want to form scar tissue or have other problems from the infusion sets.

I’m using a Medtronic/Minimed 722 pump with the Silhouette infusion set, BTW.

Has anyone else seen anything like this?

If so, does it go away, is there anything you can do to minimize or reduce the effect, etc.? Much obliged in advance for any guidance anyone can provide.

You might find that it will disappear in a few days. I sometimes have bumps that stick around a few days.

Many pumpers experience scar tissue. The ways that you can minimize it is rotating your infusion set (change every 3 days and rotate the location so that it is not in the same area within a few weeks). You also might try a different infusion set.

I used Silhouette for years and I found that it left more scars than other infusion sets (perhaps request samples of Quick Set and Sure T). If you call Minimed, they might send you samples.

You can use hydrocortisone or neosporin or even mederma on each site once you remove the infusion set. Each option is more pricer than the next with mederma at $18 a tube, it does last forever though. I will also stand by what Kristin said about the Silhouettes. I loved them, however, I received several more scars on them than the sure-t or the quicksets. Due to excessive bruising, I’m back on quicksets.

Medtronic will be happy to send you samples :slight_smile:

Thanks to both of you Kristin and Mommy!

Kristin, when you say rotating the infusion set, how far of a rotation do you mean? Not within an inch or two, or further? (Seems like using the CGMS and infusion simultaneously on my abdomen will have me revisiting the general area of sites within a couple of weeks, I’ve only got maybe 0.75 of a square foot of belly to use here… :wink:

Also, how do you guys track your sites to make sure you don’t hit them again too quickly? Should I be circling them with a pen or something? (Do they make nontoxic medical pens for writing on skin?)

I use tiny circular latex free bandaids to track mine, but I use thigh, arm, stomach, and rear end sites :slight_smile:

all my left side… then all my right, then back to the left again :slight_smile:

Good questions! In the beginning I used to just guess and try to remember not to put it in the same place, but now I try to be more systematic about it.

You should definitely move a couple inches away from the old site, but you can move in a circle. I use my thighs and I follow a pattern where I switch back and forth from left to right starting high on my outer thigh and moving down. I also use my lower back (“love handles”) occassionally. My favorite location was my upper rear end, but I used that so much that I have a lot of scar tissue and I cannot use it anymore!

As you can see, the answer is that you can use MANY places other than the abdomen. Actually I think that it is important to find other places because if you use your abdomen too much, then I think that you are likely to get more scar tissues. My doctors always told me to ONLY use the abdomen because it has the best absorption, but I get just as good results anywhere else! And I find it much more comfortable to wear the infusion set on my thighs, rear end, or back.

I know one of our members MarieB keeps a log of her infusion sites and also follows a pattern. Click here to read a discussion about this.