Hi, thankyou for your input. My surgeon thinks the plate could be inhibiting blood flow to the wound. He now wants to remove the plate. I have had 3 surgeries cancelled due to wound. It is now 9 mths. They also now think l have attracted an irritation or type of dermatitis from the sticky plasters of the many, many dressings l have had and l think they are spot on. I have now left the wound uncovered with no ointments or gels and it seems to be healing albeit very slow. When l was soaking it and putting gels on ,one day it would look good the next l had broken out in little cuts and red dots and the redness was spreading. Blood tests showed l had no infection so something other than the plate was causing the wound to continually flare up. I am still having the plate removed instead of screws l just don't know when. I admit l am scared but l think l need to bite the bullet. That's my story at the moment.