catheter maintenance question -- taking good care of Willy

Hi -- I've got another 5 days to go before the catheter comes out. I've been using a tube of white petrolatum a nurse in the hospital gave me for the delicate and important 2X daily task of cleaning the tip of Willy, cleaning the catheter tube where it comes out of the tip of Willy, and then applying with a sterile (can ordinary Q-tips substitute?) Q-tip white petrolatum around the joining area, as well as 3-4 inches down the tube (outward bound direction). I read somewhere the last few days about some men instead of using white petrolatum are substituting neosporin ointment, which has some mild antibiotics in it.

If the CVS neosporin identical product to the brand name neosporin ointment doesn't cause a rash because of some allergy, I'll use the next 5 days what CVS calls "Triple Antibiotic & Pain Relief maximum strength ointment" which has about the same consistency, look, and feel to the white petrolatum, but has the benefit I'm thinking of having some antibiotics included. Last thing I want is a urinary tract infection. The warm soapy water cleansing is doing a great job. But would neosporin ointment be an upgrade?

My discharge instructions are silent on the subject of just use white petrolatum, or just use neosporin, or use either one, there's no medical preference. I've been using the white petrolatum because that's what my nurse gave me, and what she showed me how to use. I'm not elaborating on that.

Anybody out there using neosporin and not the white petrolatum? Does it matter?

My theory is no question about the time the catheter is in is unimportant. If I've got questions, I'm certain other men do too.

Thanks.

Bill

I was sent home with a tube of petrolium jelly (same thing as petrolatum). I applied it with clean fingers to the catheter tube in the vicinity of the urinary meatus. I would suggest caution with medicated (antibiotic/anesthetic) creams unless cleared by your surgeon since some of them can cause irritation.

Chances are that as well as introducing the possibility of a reaction the anesthetic creams are probably not that useful since most of the discomfort at the meatus (the end of Mr Johnson) is probably referred pain from the anastomosis (the stitches in the urethra) well up inside.

Wow , you guys were lucky. After my biopsy I had to have a catheter because of voiding problems I was sent home with no instructions or anything about maintenance. After nearly 4 weeks of agony I went back to the urologist and insisted he remove the catheter.

Hi All,

Thanks for sharing your own experiences. PeterDisAbelard, I thought I felt some new itchiness/brief sharp pain that wasn't there before after applying the neosporin antibiotic containing ointment, which warns me off using it, and I'll go back this morning to the instructed-to-use white petrolatum jelly the remaining days before my catheter comes out this coming Thursday.

So interesting how different men received different instructions, or no instructions.

Peter's comments seemed the most persuasive of what each of you wrote (and if what you are doing is working, then maybe okay for you to keep doing what you were doing, but Peter's caution resonated the most with me):

-- "I would suggest caution with medicated (antibiotic/anesthetic) creams unless cleared by your surgeon since some of them can cause irritation."

-- "Chances are that as well as introducing the possibility of a reaction the anesthetic creams are probably not that useful since most of the discomfort at the meatus (the end of Mr Johnson) is probably referred pain from the anastomosis (the stitches in the urethra) well up inside."

Thanks, guys! Happy Sunday!

Bill