Question

A patient is postoperative after a breast reduction and arrives for a follow-up appointment at the clinic. The nurse assesses excess soft pink tissue from the surgical incision site. What complication of wound healing does the nurse recognize this to be?

Adhesion
Contractions
Keloid formation
Excess granulation tissue

Answer 1

The complication of wound healing recognized by the nurse as excess soft pink tissue from the surgical incision site is likely excess granulation tissue.

Step-by-step explanation:

The excessive soft pink tissue observed by the nurse at the incision site of the postoperative breast reduction patient is likely excess granulation tissue, which is a complication of wound healing. Granulation tissue is a part of the normal healing process and consists of new connective tissue and tiny blood vessels that form on the surfaces of a wound during the healing process. However, when there is an overgrowth, it can protrude above the surface of the surrounding skin and be considered a complication.

Excess granulation tissue is characterized by soft, pink, or red tissue that may bleed easily. It's important to distinguish this from other healing complications, such as keloid formation, which is an overproduction of scar tissue leading to raised hypertrophic scars, or adhesions, which are bands of scar tissue that bind together two surfaces of the body that are normally separate. Moreover, contractions relate to the pulling together of the edges of a wound.