There’s no set total. What matters is the direction of travel, which turns out to be the more useful thing.
Some drainage is expected. After surgery, one of the jobs a dressing does is soak up any fluids that leak from your wound. Drainage is not, in itself, a sign that something has gone wrong.
What matters is whether the drainage is settling. With wet-to-dry dressing changes, there is a specific trigger: contact your provider if drainage is not decreasing after 3 to 5 days. Drainage that is increasing is another reason to call.
So the question to ask of a wound is not how many days it has been draining. It is whether there is less drainage this week than last.
The other half is character rather than quantity. After surgery, contact your provider if the drainage coming from or around the wound becomes thick, tan, green or yellow, or smells bad. This indicates pus.
Look rather than guess. Pay attention to the color and amount of drainage from your wound, and look for drainage that has become darker, thicker or foul smelling.
One practical note follows from all this. If the dressing is being soaked through sooner than it used to be, that is a change in amount. It is the kind of observation worth reporting with a timeframe attached, rather than describing it as just a lot.
