Wound site where stitches were removed appears to be reopened? Is this an ER vis!


Question: My daughter had a dog bite last Saturday (over a week ago). She had the stitches removed today. There were four stitches on the inside of the middle section of her left middle finger. While we were leaving she decided to make a fist and straighten her hand the and the wound appeared to open up again. It is not bleeding, but is oozing slightly. The nurse (the doc of course was already with another patient) told us to hold it closed with steri-stips and it would be fine.

But to me it doesn't look fine. It looks open to at lease 1/4 inche deep.

Do you think we need to go to urgent care, or can it wait until the morning? At this point the steri-strip has not helped it close at all. Also, shouldn't the stitches have done a better job actually closing this wound? Please advise!


Answers: My daughter had a dog bite last Saturday (over a week ago). She had the stitches removed today. There were four stitches on the inside of the middle section of her left middle finger. While we were leaving she decided to make a fist and straighten her hand the and the wound appeared to open up again. It is not bleeding, but is oozing slightly. The nurse (the doc of course was already with another patient) told us to hold it closed with steri-stips and it would be fine.

But to me it doesn't look fine. It looks open to at lease 1/4 inche deep.

Do you think we need to go to urgent care, or can it wait until the morning? At this point the steri-strip has not helped it close at all. Also, shouldn't the stitches have done a better job actually closing this wound? Please advise!

keep it wrapped with a bandage of some sort.

ideally, yes, you want to go back.

but....someone i knew never even went to the hospital. at all. and it healed all on its own. bad scar. but it healed. and it was a pretty deep cut.

it can wait. just keep it bandaged.

make sure to keep it closed as infection can occur.

oozing of any kind isnt good. that could be a sign of an infection.
obviously i cannot help you very much seeing as i cant see the wound.
it sounds strange that they wanted her to make a fist and then straighten it out. that to me doesnt sound good. it sounds like the wound could open back up. just like you arent supposed to do any physical activities a week after you get the stitches out. (just from experience with stitches)
if it isnt bleeding or doesnt look too bad then i would try to keep it together with steri-strips and keep a close eye on it. and take her back to the place where they took them out in the morning.
if you think that it cant wait then take her to the ER. the only reason why i am saying to wait is that going to the ER can become expensive but obviously if she needs to go, then she needs to go.

It's just leaking lymph. It's not a bad thing. The ER won't reclose the wound after it's popped back open (even after a few hours!), they'll just put butterflies on it. You can do that yourself. Just make sure she's keeping it really clean, keep the cut closed with the strips and it'll heal by itself.





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