Pleurodesis anybody?
 

I bookended 2016 with a collapsed lung in January and in December, so a chemical (talc) pleurodesis is in store in a couple of weeks.

Has anybody had a pleurodesis? I'm curious about long term effectiveness in preventing spontaneous pneumothorax, and any side effects.

Thanks for any comments.

Patients Like Me as resource
 

You may want to consider joining the "Patients Like Me" group at patientslikeme.com which is a great resource for making contact with patients with similar health conditions to share experiences and resources. This is a credible organization which provides a forum for patients to be more informed consumers and advocates for themselves. This is a place where you are likely to find many people with experience with this procedure and with your health concerns.

A little over 30 years ago, when I was 27, I had my first spontaneous lung collapse. Four months later, I had the second (same lung). My doctor, a surgeon, recommended the procedure to keep it from happening again. He did the surgery and removed six blebs in the process, so this was, potentially, six more times that I could have had a collapse happen. After the surgery, it never happened again.

I have had different surgeries in my life, including an emergency C-section and have to say that the lung surgery was the toughest recovery of all of them. (I am not sure that you are having the same process/procedure.) Lung collapses are life threatening events, so in retrospect, I would not change a thing.

Thanks for both helpful replies.

My procedure will be done arthroscopically so perhaps the recovery will be a little quicker. If it results in 30 trouble free years, mission accomplished.