“How are surgical stitches removed?”
I am a 42 year old female. I want to know how are surgical stitches removed?
7 Answers
Surgeonsurgeon
Just cut and pulled out. Little to no pain at all.
Cut , pull
So you can remove them yourself? ;-) Bad idea. You should go see your surgeon to have them removed with sterile surgical instruments. If you are just curious, the sutures are removed with sterile scissors. Then, usually steri-strips are applied to keep the incision from pulling apart.
Surgical stitches or sutures are typically removed at your postoperative visit. Depending on the type of procedure you had, stitches can be removed as early as 3 days and as long as several weeks after surgery. Your doctor or his/her assistant gently tugs on the exposed end of the stitch and snips the knot then extracts the suture. Steristrips may be reapplied after removal and your doctor may recommend silicone scar gel or strips to improve scar healing and maturation.
Locate the knot, cut the string close to the knot, pull the knot. For the continuous stitches, cut the individual loop and pull from one cut end, start by pulling the knot. For mattress suture, cut the exposed string and pull from the knot.
We remove staples and external stitches are cut with scissors and then pulled out.
Stitches are typically removed as an outpatient procedure. The provider will use a pair of forceps to lift the stitch away from the skin and then use a pair of scissors to cut the stitch itself. Once the stitch is cut, it can easily be removed.
