How to Remove Stitches: What to Expect

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Is there a medical stance on home removal?

Stitches are used after many different types of surgeries to close wounds or incisions. The term “stitches” actually refers to the medical procedure of closing wounds with sutures. Sutures are the materials used to close the incision.

Although stitches are common, they still require special medical attention. Removing your own stitches comes with risk. Most doctors prefer you have stitches removed in their office, but not everyone heeds that advice.

If you decide to remove your own stitches, it’s important you keep a few things in mind. Here, we break down when stitches are typically removed, warning signs that something is wrong, and what to do if removing your stitches doesn’t work.

In general, removing your own stitches isn’t a good idea. When doctors remove stitches, they’re looking for signs of infection, proper healing, and wound closure.

If you try to remove your stitches at home, your doctor won’t be able to conduct their final follow-up. Still, some people choose to remove their own stitches.

You can do so, but be sure to discuss your plans with your doctor first. Your doctor can provide recommendations and instructions so that you remove your stitches properly.

They can also give you tips on preventing infection or scarring if your stitches are removed prematurely. If you find that your wound isn’t healed, your doctor will need to reapply stitches to help finish healing.

If you plan to remove your own stitches, you should keep these pointers in mind:

Make sure it’s time: If you remove your stitches too early, your wound may reopen, you could cause an infection, or you may make scarring worse. Confirm with your doctor how many days you should wait before removing stitches. If your wound looks swollen or red, don’t remove your stitches. See your doctor as soon as you can.

Collect the proper equipment: Though you may have decided to skip the doctor’s appointment, you should still treat this procedure with caution. You’ll need sharp scissors, tweezers, rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, and adhesive bandages.

Get instructions: Ask your doctor or medical provider for step-by-step instructions for removing your own stitches. Follow those instructions so you don’t create additional problems.

When in doubt, seek help: If you have difficulty removing your stitches or notice something unusual, stop what you’re doing and seek medical advice.

Sutures, or stitches, are either absorbable or nonabsorbable. Absorbable sutures are often used for internal stitching. The material of absorbable sutures is designed to break down over time and dissolve. Nonabsorbable sutures must be removed. They won’t dissolve.

The process for removing nonabsorbable sutures is quite simple whether you do it yourself or have it done at a doctor’s office:

1. Gather your materials

You need sharp scissors. Surgical scissors are best. Nail trimmers or clippers might also work. Collect tweezers, rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, and adhesive bandages or adhesive strips. You may also want to have antibiotic ointment on hand.

2. Sterilize your materials

Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil. Drop in all metal utensils, and let them sit for a few minutes. Remove the utensils, and use a clean paper towel to dry them. Pour a bit of rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab, and wipe down the tips of the utensils.

3. Wash and sterilize the suture site

Use soapy hot water to wash the spot where you have stitches. Dry it with a clean towel. Pour rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab, and wipe down the area.

4. Find a good spot

Sit in an area of your home where you can see the suture site clearly. If the stitches are on a part of your body you’re unable to easily reach, ask a friend or family member to help.

5. Snip and slip the stitches

Using the tweezers, pull gently up on each knot. Slip the scissors into the loop, and snip the stitch. Gently tug on the thread until the suture slips through your skin and out. You may feel slight pressure during this, but removing stitches is rarely painful. Don’t pull the knot through your skin. This could be painful and cause bleeding.

6. Stop if you start bleeding

If you begin bleeding after removing a stitch, stop what you’re doing. If your wound opens up after you remove a stitch, stop and apply an adhesive bandage. Call your doctor’s office and ask for directions.

7. Clean the area

Once all the stitches are removed, clean the wound area thoroughly with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball. If you have antibiotic ointment on hand, apply it to the area.

8. Protect the wound

You may want to apply adhesive strips across the wound to help prevent it from reopening. These can remain on until they fall off naturally or after two weeks. Soaking them in warm water will loosen them for easier removal.

The skin around an incision is very weak during healing, but it will regain strength over time. Protect the area by covering it with a bandage for at least five days.

Your wound could swell, bleed, or split open if it’s stretched or bumped, so avoid activities that could cause damage.

Keep the wound clean and dry. Avoid getting it dirty. Don’t expose the wound to direct sunlight. The skin around your incision is very sensitive while it’s healing. It can and will burn more easily in sunlight than the rest of your skin.

Some doctors recommend that you apply vitamin E lotion to help speed healing and reduce scarring. Before you use this alternative treatment, consult your doctor. You may be sensitive to it and should avoid it. Or your doctor may have a different recommendation.

If you develop fever or notice redness, swelling, pain, red streaks, or draining from the wound before or after you remove the stitches, consult your doctor immediately. You may have an infection that should be treated.

If the wound reopens after you remove your stitches, see your doctor as soon as you can. You may need additional stitches to help the wound close again.

Do’s and Don’ts of Skin Healing After Stitches

Posted on: November 1st, 2022 by Kristen Chang

Whether it’s from surgery or a mishap, at some point, you may need stitches aka sutures. When you do, you can count on your board-certified California Skin Institute dermatologist to provide you with expert follow-up care to guide your healing process and help minimize scarring. Even so, it’s good to know the basics of how your skin heals and what you can to do to help. November marks National Healthy Skin Month, so what better time to explore this important topic?

All Stitched Up and Ready To Go? Not Exactly

You may feel a euphoric sense of relief when the thread of your stitches is knotted and snipped. But now you’re onto the next phase of the process. You need to know how to care for your stitches. It’s vital to your skin’s healthy healing.

Think of the thread of your stitches like the thread that holds your clothes together. You want to make sure things don’t come apart at the seams.

After your stitches are in, you’ll get instructions on how to care for them and told when (and if) they will be taken out. It could be as little as a few days and probably no more than a couple of weeks. It depends on how deep your wound was, where it was and what type of stitches you receive. Absorbable stitches don’t need to be removed by a health care provider, as they are made of material that the body can absorb. However, these types of stitches may dissolve too quickly for some incisions to completely heal, and you may receive the more traditional type.

Healing Begins Under Your Skin

Your skin is an intricate structure composed of the top epidermis and underlying dermis, including a layer of fat — your body’s natural insulation. These layers serve to protect your internal organs and to help prevent dehydration.

As the body’s protective shield from the outside environment, skin is vulnerable to injury. Wound healing evolved as a crucial process for survival. It’s a complex process involving blood clotting and the creation of new skin cells.

Blasting Off to Healing with Fibroblasts — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Some species possess the ability to perfectly regenerate skin. We humans are not as lucky. Producing new skin tissue is more complicated for mammals, including humans. Typically, it results in scar tissue. That’s because fibroblasts — the worker bees of your body’s wound repair system — do their job with efficiency, as their top priority is your safety, not aesthetics. The job of the fibroblasts is to patch up injured tissue as quickly as possible to protect you. How the finished job looks is not part their job description. As a result, the new skin tissue may be thicker than regular skin tissue.

Scientific research continues to explore how to improve wound healing to eliminate scar formation. But, at present, it is best to focus on the healing process itself. Should scar tissue form as the wound closes, give it time. Some scars may disappear by themselves. If a scar persists and its appearance irks you, your board-certified CSI dermatologist can suggest the best procedures and treatments to minimize it. They can determine which of CSI’s many laser options might yield the best results for your situation.

You can also apply scar care products to the area, like Scar Duo. This pairing of Scar Recovery Gel and Scar Care SPF 45 provides a breathable, protective shield over wounds immediately post-procedure and helps to hydrate, soothe, fade and smooth the texture of scars.

What Not to Do and What to Do After Stitches

Let us now praise stitches. Not only do they promote skin healing and stop bleeding, they also actually reduce both the risk of scarring and the size of any scar that occurs.

There is no guarantee as to whether a permanent scar will form or what it will look like once the skin heals. Following your CSI dermatologist’s instructions are important to achieving the best outcome.

These instructions will most likely include:

Don’t strain your stitches.

Steer clear of all activities that could strain the site until you’re done healing. Even exercise like yoga can put too much pressure on the stitches.

Don’t swim.

Wait until your stitches are out before you go into the pool or ocean.

Don’t drink alcohol.

Its ability to interfere with blood clotting—perhaps good for those with potentially dangerous blood clots in their arteries—is not good for wound healing.

Don’t go out in the sun with the wound exposed.

After it is safe to remove the surgical dressing, protect the area from the sun with a broad spectrum sunscreen. Newly formed skin tissue is very vulnerable to discoloration from sunlight.

Don’t scratch the stitched area.

No matter how much it itches, resist the urge to scratch. Instead, treat the itch. Use an over-the-counter antihistamine or anti-itch cream.

Do keep the area covered and dry.

Check with your doctor about when and how to clean the stitched wound. When you shower keep the area out of the shower head’s spray. Avoid hot tubs and saunas.

Do change the dressing as advised.

Be sure to stock up on whatever type of bandaging is recommended.

Do contact your doctor’s office if there’s any sign of infection.

Reddening? Swelling? Pus or bleeding? Call your physician to check on the wound.

Do check on lightly applying an antibiotic first aid ointment to the wound.

Remember, easy does it. Ditto for gently massaging the area once the stitches are gone. This may help soften and flatten any scar tissue.

Do be mindful of consuming a nutritious diet and staying hydrated.

Plenty of fruits, vegetables and lean protein. Adequate calories. Perhaps a multi-vitamin multi-mineral supplement once a day to ensure a balanced intake of micronutrients.

Surgical wound care

Publication date: December 07, 2021 .

With proper care, recovery after surgery takes about 2-3 weeks. It is very important, in the postoperative period, to thoroughly wash the wound with a sterile solution, change postoperative dressings in a timely manner, and conduct visual control for signs of infection. Proper wound care contributes to its trouble-free healing.

Wound care

• Keep the wound clean and dry to promote wound healing and avoid wound infection.
• Then change the dressing/bandage depending on the condition of the wound, wound care product instructions, and doctor’s advice, or keep the wound covered with the dressing/bandage until sutures are removed.
• Avoid changing the dressing too often, but change the dressing/bandage immediately if it becomes wet with blood or wound discharge, becomes soiled, or has come loose from the wound.
• Performing a dressing procedure:

1. prepare necessary wound care products;
2. Wash hands before and after dressing with warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds or use alcohol-based hand rub;
3. carefully remove the dressing/bandage from the wound;
4. clean the wound as directed by the physician, such as 0.9% NaCl solution or wound antiseptic;
5. Apply a new dressing/bandage to the wound.

Bathing

• You can shower 2-3 days after surgery or as directed by your doctor:
• remove bandage/plaster before bathing, except for waterproof products;
• wash the wound with lukewarm running water, do not rub the area;
• air dry the wound and the skin around the wound or blot gently with a clean dressing, being careful not to rub the wound;
• Apply a new dressing/bandage to the wound after bathing.
• You can then shower as needed or as recommended by your doctor.
• If there is a drain in the wound, do not shower until the drain is removed and the drain is closed.

Wound care

• In case of wound pain, take pain medication prescribed by your doctor.
• Swelling in the wound area and wound pain can be reduced:
• if you keep the limb elevated in case of a wound on the leg/arm;
• if a cloth-wrapped cold bag is kept on the wound for approximately 20 minutes at a time for two hours. This can be done with the permission of a doctor.
• Both in the case of a wound with sutures, and after the removal of sutures, there is a possibility that the wound will open. Therefore, be careful, especially with a wound located on a moving part of the body: keep the wound area free of tension, avoid heavy lifting, and limit physical activity for 2 weeks after surgery. Follow the doctor’s recommendations.
• The wound may be tender or numb, slightly raised or reddened, and the area around the wound may itch, which are normal symptoms associated with the wound.
• Call your doctor if:
  • persistent redness in the wound area, localized fever, swelling and pain;
  • there was bleeding, increased wound or purulent discharge, or an unpleasant odor from the wound;
  • body temperature rises above 37.5°C;
  • general weakness and feeling unwell;
  • the wound has opened.

Wound care and bathing after suture removal

• The timing of suture removal is determined by the attending physician.
• Absorbable (absorbable) sutures dissolve on their own after a week to several months, depending on the suture material.
• Non-dissolving threads are usually removed 7-14 days (depending on the area of ​​the body) after surgery, if necessary – later.

After the sutures are removed, the wound is covered with a bandage/bandage if necessary, which can be removed after one day and then, as a rule, it is not necessary to cover the wound with a bandage or bandage.

• On the day the sutures are removed, do not wet the wound to ensure that holes are closed. Then you can take a bath, visit the sauna and swim.
• Healing wound remains sensitive for several more weeks – protect the wound area from external damage, avoid rubbing it with tight clothing. You can keep the wound covered with a bandage or plaster during this period if you wish.

Suture removal in Naro-Fominsk

Suture removal

When sutures are removed from a wound
Surgical intervention is indicated in violation of the integrity of the skin and underlying tissues. Dissections, deep incised wounds, punctures lead to damage. To connect the excision site, suturing is carried out, the edges of the injured area are pulled together with staples or special threads.

After the wound has been sutured, it will take some time for it to heal. Removal of stitches is performed by a doctor in his office, everything is done quickly enough.

There are many factors that determine when stitches are removed.

Among them:

• ability of tissues to regenerate;
• the patient’s well-being;
• type of wound;
• presence of complications;
• suture.

Suture removal service provided by a specialist surgeon. You need to call the clinic in advance and clarify the time of the procedure, so as not to wait in line.

Clinic “Glavvrach” in Naro-Fominsk – a place to provide quality medical care in any situation. Stitches will be removed here quickly and professionally!

There is a department for children and adults.
We accept children from birth and adult patients.
Clinic doctors are highly qualified

On average, stitches are removed on the 6-9th day. The knot of the suture thread is pulled until the thread hidden in the tissues appears above the skin.

After the wound has healed, the surgeon may remove the stitches. The minimum healing period is 4-6 days, and the maximum is 9-12 days. The procedure for removing sutures is carried out according to this principle:

• the patient is in a comfortable position on the couch;
• medical specialist prepares the necessary instruments and supplies;
• the applied dressing is removed from the wound;
• the wound is inspected, after which it is treated with an antiseptic;
• the doctor grabs the suture knot with tweezers, then cuts the thread with scissors;
• the seam is carefully pulled out with tweezers, the integrity of the skin is checked;
• after removing the thread, the wound is treated with an antiseptic, a plaster is glued to it, which is fixed with a bandage.

The step-by-step procedure takes some time, but the doctor must do everything carefully.

Prices for services

Doctors

Akbarov Pavel Alimdzhanovich

• Surgeon
• Experience since 2005

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Abumuslimov Shamil Ruslanovich

• Surgeon
• Experience since 2019

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Kurkaev Isa Khamzatovich

• Surgeon
• Experience since 2017

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