UKC

whats wrong with removing my stitches myself ?

In reply to trimtram:

nothing, just use clean sharp tools and make sure the correct period of time has elapsed before removal - usually 5-7 days for simple skin laceration.

In reply to trimtram:

I am in no way qualified to give advise on this....

But, I had a skin graft after a car crash and pulled some of the stitches out early and I have more scarring compared to where I left them alone....

In reply to trimtram:

Probably nothing, but if you get a nurse to do it they can check that the wound is healing properly and you don't have to worry about messing it up. A hooked scalpel blade gets them out in no time flat.

In reply to trimtram:

Nothing - as long as it's healed and you use clean tools.

Important you don't leave them in too long, or the skin will grow over them and they'll be a bugger to remove.

In reply to trimtram:

I removed my own stitches from my tongue of all places, it was a bit tricky due to the area but simple enough to actually do.

If you are doing it yourself make sure the wound is properly healed and what you use to do it is clean.

In reply to trimtram:

I removed mine from my eyebrow. We were in Scotland on holiday and I fell off Ravens Gully and sustained a head injury. We spent the next four days on Eigg and then went to the Old Man of Storr. Sat on the pier at Lochinver my mate noticed that my skin had grown over my stitches (this was 30 years ago and back then stitches were made of thick black twine). We sterilized his knife with fire and he cut the threads and I pulled them out. It effing hurt, but because I'd left it too long!

In reply to trimtram:

I had a load of stitches put in after surgery in Austria, which were a different 'style' to UK stitches apparently, and the nurse had a nightmare trying to select where to cut and where to pull to do the minimum damage and get all of the thread out- so maybe not something to jump in and do. The NHS is free afterall...

In reply to trimtram:

I asked the same question about six stitches in my finger. and was told to do it myself. I went to the nurse. Glad I did. The first one was bloody painful and I'd have probably been a bit stuck if I'd started on them myself.

In reply to Postmanpat:

I've done quite a few of my own over the years - as others have said as long as what you use is clean then it's not an issue. Depends where they are of course, and the wound obviously must be healed and cleaned as well. Staples are a different issue - I wouldn't do those myself in a million years.

In reply to trimtram:

I've taken my own stitches out several times (accident prone much?!). Soaking in warm water first can help a lot.

In reply to trimtram:

Why bother. When my son lost a tonne of skin on his heal, the process of having it heal was quite complex as if you leave it to heal too fast, you get excessive skin regrowth and scaring. The healing process was therefore managed and he now has almost no scar.

In reply to ByEek:

heel and heal are different words.

look up healing by primary intent or secondary intent.

If the wound edges will oppose naturally then yes it may leave less of a scar than to place sutures, but if the wounds gapes due to the way the tissues are tensioned / movement then it may leave a much bigger scar / indentation to leave it to heal naturally.
Other times in the case of a graft then sutures (or staples) may be needed to hold it in place whilst it revascularises.
Skin glue is often used for minor lacerations to avoid the scars left by the sutures themselves but is only appropriate when there is little or no tension accross the wound.

In reply to trimtram:

I had about 15 stitches in my hand after I lacerated it (severing the main nerve cluster which required major surgery). Just took them out with a stanley knife and it was no problem at all. The doc would do the same anyway.

In reply to trimtram:

If they're just in the skin then yes you can remove them yourself but how do you decide when the wound is suitably healed in order to remove them without problems? If the would was deep or a puncture wound get them done by a doctor or nurse.
If you do decide to remove them make sure you cut the stitches right next to the skin (really as close as you can possibly get) on one side then gently pull them through. You need to get as close to the skin as possible to make sure that you don't catch an infection from the dirty stitches that you've just pulled through.

In reply to Mike00010:


Good advice. Simple interrupted sutures are easily removed if you are sure the wound is healed sufficiently (although I would recommend tweezers and small pointed scissors rather than a Stanley knife!). If it looks more complicated (like a running suture) make sure you can see how it works before messing with it.