After having a modified neck dissection on 14th February I have been suffering from a severely swollen neck. Have been back to surgeon and he has stuck a needle in my neck and removed a lot of the fluid (this has been checked and is only saliva etc). Yesterday however with no apparent reason my neck started to leak the fluid from the site of the injection, this went on for a couple of hours, I currently have a dressing on the site and it has stopped leaking. Has anyone else experienced this and whilst it is not painful I don't think this is the best way to get the swelling down!

Sorry, I never had this problen, and I had three neck dissections. Everyone is different, but fluid can build up if it did not drain fully to begin with, after surgery from the drainage tubes in the neck, which is usually removed when the bulb only fills 1/3 or less. If fluid does buld up, it may need to be drained, like the doctor apparently did, but let he or she know of the continued problem. Inflammation from surgery, and lympatic fluid will build up due to the compromised lymph flow from the lymph nodes removed, but this should slowly subside in time, but maybe not completely like pr-surgery.

Do you sleep on an incline, I do, and that may help with drainage, and prevent pooling of fluids. Some do manual lymph drainage massage that can help, only by a trained therapist, since it has to be done in a certain direction,, motion, and pressure, but check with your surgeon since I don't know how far out from surgery you should be, and the same with accupuncture. My thought these days, is only my surgeon is touching my neck, so I never had any myself.

Good luck, and hope this helps.

Hi you should see the ENT again or go to the hospital to have it drained - it sounds as though you had your drains removed too soon and the fluid has no where to go. I had a similar problem with abdominal surgery and the dr had to drain me a few times to empty the fluid out.

also your neck will swell after a neck dissection - as your drainage system ( lymph fluid ) has been compromised, not now but at some point you may want to consider lymphatic massage. If they are suggesting radiation and chemo I would wait until after you've finished treatment en go, for the massage otherwise just wait until you've healed fully and then go. Eventually you will learn to do it yourself and can continue on your own until new pathways have been built. You will also need physio for your arm and shoulder, best of luck.

Seeing the surgeon would be a good idea. They should be following up with you for at least 90 days after any surgery. This is something that should be checked out and probably drained again.

Good luck!