The most common risks of surgery in any patient is infection. Infections may prolong or limit your full recovery and serious infection may require repeat surgery. So it is very important to prevent infection. After surgery, you may have stitches or staples closing the surgical wound. Keep the area clean and avoid soaking the wound in water until it has healed.
Infection may occur even after you have fully recovered from surgery. The risk of infections later on (months or years after surgery) is higher in people with hemophilia compared to those without. For example, in knee replacement surgery, the rate of infection was about 10-15% (after 3 months to over 10 years) in people with hemophilia.8,9 The most common causes of these late infections after joint replacement surgery are from bacteria that enter the bloodstream during dental procedures, urinary tract infections, or skin infections. These bacteria can lodge around the artificial joint (prosthetic) and cause an infection. To help prevent infection, if you plan to have dental work or any surgical procedure you should take antibiotics. You should discuss this with your dentist or other doctors who are planning an invasive procedure.
