Can I remove my stitches?!
Question: I got stitches a week ago today. There was some pusing and oozing a couple days ago but it's stopped now. I'm on antibiotics, and it looks like the new skin is starting to grow over the stitches. Can I remove them now or should I wait another couple days? When I do remove them, what's the best way to do it? (my doc said I can do it myself at home)
Answers: I got stitches a week ago today. There was some pusing and oozing a couple days ago but it's stopped now. I'm on antibiotics, and it looks like the new skin is starting to grow over the stitches. Can I remove them now or should I wait another couple days? When I do remove them, what's the best way to do it? (my doc said I can do it myself at home)
I'm a medical asst at a doc's office and remove stitches all the time. You need to call your doc's office and see when he wants them taken out. You don't want to take them out too early. You'll need a smaller pair of scissors or fingernail clippers, and a pair of tweezers. Pull the stitch up with the tweezers and be sure to cut under the knot and make sure all of the stitch comes out. You may want to have someone help you. Good luck!
its really not the big of deal. When you go to the dr they will use either tweezers or these things that look like mini needle nose pliers and just pull them out. It does hurt a little so be prepared. I wouldn't remove them yet, i think they removed mine about 2 weeks after surgery.
You could actually go to the pharmacy section of your store and get something similar to steri-strips. They're thin, reinforced strips that are like a bandaid, but that you don't change daily.
I'd put them between the stitches, and then remove the stitches, and leave the steri strips on until they fall off... this way, if the wound hasn't healed all the way, the healed skin will have the support of the steri-strips to prevent from ripping the wound back apart.
You can remove your own stitches. Just make sure the wound has healed and the area is clean and disinfected. Start by gathering a few tools. You'll need a sharp pair of scissors and a pair of tweezers.
Grasp the stitch near the skin and pull it out a little from the wound, exposing the hidden part of the stitch. Snip the stitch and pull it out from the other side. This keeps the dirty part of the stitch from going into the wound. Repeat as necessary to remove all the stitches.
Short snips and fast doing.
I THINK YOU SHOULD GET SOME NORMAL SALINE AND CLEAN IT OUT. NORMAL SALINE WOULD WASHOUT THE STICHES JUST RUB ON IT ALITTLE AND THE STICHES WILL COME OUT. WHEN I HAD SURGERY AND MY NURSE SHE HAD TO COME AND CHANGE DRESSINGS EVERYDAY AND NORMAL SALINE WOULD HELP.PLUS IT'S ANTIBIOTIC TOO.SO GOOD LUCK.YOU CAN GET NORMAL SALINE @ ANY PHARMACY OVER THE COUNTER
Most stiches that are used now days are ones that your body will just absorb or when the cut has healed will fall out. But i would wait for another week to be sure it will not open again before i remove anything.
If your doctor gave you a date to remove them on, I wouldn't do it too early. But you SHOULD go ask the doctor immediately because stitches will be very, very painful and hard to get off with skin grown over them. So consult your doctor, and use his instructions.
you have to remove them the right way or you could leave some behind, you also don't want to pull the contaminated part of the suture through the clean wound. weird dr. you have to cut only one side, close to the skin, then pull the knot and the bit that is through your skin should slip out, so you should have a knot with 2 tails, one longer than the other, there should be none left in the skin. leave them untill the cut is joined and you have a neat line, the cut shouldn't be inflamed and the wound shouldn't feel tight or warm. i think it is better to have someone take them out that knows what they are doing. you really need to ba able to see what you are doing.
Leave them alone for now. Keep them dry. When the wound is healed, the stitches will start to loosen and itch. Some dry skin may form around them, but it flakes away. If you have any questions about how to remove them yourself, call your doctor and ask, or just snip under the knots and gently pull out with tweezers, but give this a bit of time, generally when the wound looks solidly healed and the stitches are really itchy, they are just about ready to come out.
As a nurse, I find it very hard to believe your dr said you could remove them at home. There must be only one or two.
If there was drainage/pus you had infection. Be sure to finish ALL your antibiotics!
If it has only been a week, your skin is not growing over the stitches. Go to your dr and let him/her remove them safely and sanitarily. Some stitches need longer to heal. If they aren'y really ready, they could pop open again, subjecting you to infection, more sutures.
Let your doctor finish what he/she started.