So after my surgery I'm had off and on light bleeding, and today 12 days later it started back again.  I saw my doctor for my first post op visit 4 days ago, and nothing he saw seemed to worry him at that time, but I also was not bleeding then on that day either.  I push myself in PT and when doing my exercises at home and I believe it is possible that this is causing the main incision to bleed. But are the scabs just coming off, or is it reopening?

There is a big lump around this incision which got huge about 5 days ago, but now appears to be going down.  Yesterday was my first day really back to work and I was on my feet more than usual.  I didn't notice any real bleeding however when I got home.  However I then had my wife massage my legs before bed, then I put on ice.  In the morning every thing I had used in darkness during the night had some blood on it.  Not tons of it, but still blood.  It's the weekend so I can't contact my doctor or the medical center where I go to for treatment.  So I have a question.  Should I be changing the steri strips?? Putting a gauze pad under a band-aid, or putting a gauze pad over the steri strips?  Am I cleaning the area or leaving it alone?  I've heard so many different ideas and I'm not sure what to do.

Please help, as I am a little concerned.

Disclaimer, I'm not a Doctor but do work side by side with them so I maybe able to calm your nerves alittle.  I too had recent ACL surgery with two incisions for petella autograph. My lateral incision has a minor lump under the tissue since surgery and I'm almost  6 weeks post op. I was told it's scar tissue and have noticed it gets alittle bigger after PT. It goes from about a half inch to an inch in diameter prior to PT and to an inch and a half after PT.  Now that my incisions are pretty well healed I've been able to "lightly" massage the area to aid in the break down of the scar tissue. I think this is pretty normal but I was instructed by my physician to avoid massaging until the end of week 3 or 4 depending on pain.

With regards to bleeding, are the incisions bleeding or oozing? Bleeding would be consistant flow which may cause concern. Oozing is intermittent fluid but not continuous flow and not significant in volume. It sound like you have some minor oozing. I would speculate it's not a problem as long as the fluid is blood and not some clear or puss like discharge. The tissues critical wound healing time is around 14 days. After that time, the tissue should have healed enough for sutures or staples to be obsolete.

My post op protocol was to leave SStrips on until sutures were removed 2 weeks post op. I took most of mine off the day before that appointment since I'm a baby about that stuff and wanted to take my time on the removal instead of having someone rip them off. I was also allowed to shower and did so after 1 week post op but didn't submerge and basically let soapy water run over it in the shower to help loosen up the SStrips for removal later on. I didn't wash or scrub the area.

If you're not going to seek medical attention this weekend and wait to call the Dr.'s office until Monday, i'd take it easy until then. This is just my opinion based on my personal experience.