Home Common health questions Accidents, first aid and treatments Back to Accidents, first aid and treatments. How long will my stitches sutures take to dissolve? The time it takes for dissolvable or absorbable stitches to disappear can vary. Usually, this is not a cause for concern. It is normal to be able to feel internal sutures. While most dissolvable stitches do absorb within about six months, there is a wide range of normal.
For example, yours may be gone quicker, or they may take far longer to dissolve completely. Feeling your stitches is not cause for alarm. Sometimes what you feel may not even be the sutures—it may also be feeling scar tissue , which is typical for a surgical incision. Try to avoid rubbing or poking at your incision site. Your skin may close far faster than the deeper parts of your incision.
Therefore, repeatedly scratching your surgical site can delay your healing process. Dissolvable stitches are a convenient way to suture wounds and incisions. Unlike regular stitches that require removal, your body absorbs dissolvable stitches so that they do not require removal. To care for dissolvable stitches, wash with a gentle cleanser.
Avoid scrubbing, picking at scabs, and hydrogen peroxide. Absorbable sutures are standard and very safe. The best part is there is no need for a follow-up procedure to remove the stitches once the wound heals. Dissolvable stitches aren't appropriate for every injury but are an excellent way to close many surgical incisions.
If you wonder if dissolvable stitches are a good option for your wound or incision, ask your doctor about it. Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Comparison of absorbable with nonabsorbable sutures in closure of facial skin wounds. Arch Facial Plast Surg. Acute wound management: revisiting the approach to assessment, irrigation, and closure considerations.
Int J Emerg Med. Ugeskr Laeg. Closure techniques. Emerg Med Clin North Am. If it will be logistically difficult to get someone back to have their stitches removed, I will use dissolvable ones. You can care for dissolvable stitches in the same way as non-dissolvable ones. Apply this solution with a q-tip twice a day, then apply antibiotic ointment or vaseline.
So those are the basics of dissolvable stitches. They are convenient, but they can make scarring worse. I like to use them in the deeper layers of your skin but not on the surface with exceptions. Finally, you can care for them like normal stitches. I hope you never need stitches, but if you do, your doctor will no doubt keep these things in mind when they pick which type to use.
While we were all sitting at home for most of , I kept reminding myself that scientists were rapidly working on a COVID Vaccine. Do not scratch the wound even if you experience an itching sensation. In these cases, it is best to apply the ointment recommended by the doctor to hasten the healing process.
If the doctor has bandaged the wound, it may be necessary to change the bandages at regular intervals. Check with your doctor about the frequency and changing process. These days you can order most medical supplies such as bandages, sutures, and adult diapers online. Once the dissolvable stitches start to fall off, some little parts of these may stick out. Do not try to forcibly remove them. These will either be absorbed by the body or will fall off eventually.
Absorbable sutures may take from days to several months to be completely absorbed.
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