Question about a picc line dressing

Published Jan 19, 2014

1 Post

I'm actually a patient, but I figure where am I going to get the best advice? From nurses.

I have a powerline (picc line in the chest) that I will have for 5-10 months and possibly longer. I've currently had the line for about a month. Dressing changes are done weekly.

I'm allergic to the adhesive on tegaderm, and even paper tape. We have been using a 4x4 biopore dressing but it doesn't stay on well. By day 3 there are gaps forming and by day 7 I've added loads of tape around the edges but it doesn't stay down very well. I'm paranoid about getting an infection. It was a major ordeal to get this line in me. (several tries, a blood clot, and major surgical complications in the previous).

Is it normal to have little aprox. 5mm gaps form at the edges of the bandage and is this safe? Around day 4-7, a rather large gap shows up around 1 cm wide on either side of where the line exits from underneath the bandage. Is this gap around the line normal as well? I watch it all week and it freaks me out. I'm constantly pressing it back down around the line every half hour or so.

I'm also a little nervous about my nurse that does the dressing changes. She's very fast, but this last time she took off the dressing without saying anything and without even having me put on a mask. I made sure I got one when I realized what she had done.

This line is giving me life saving treatment similar to chemotherapy, and like I said...it took moving heaven and earth and extreme suffering due to complications to get this line that works. This was the third try. If I can't continue to get treatment it's 100% I'll die...it's not ok to nonchalantly care for this central line!

Other dressings I've tried are iv3000 and I'm even allergic to the paper tape. I'm also allergic to chloroprep and the biopatch. We use alcohol and betadyne, and a silver makeshift biopatch.

Any advice, pointers, tips in regards to the gaps being normal or not, and dressing options, are welcome.