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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want to find wires left from my stitches

16 replies

hanaka88 · 01/12/2011 19:56

In my hand. Just had the cast off, came home, put cream on and had a really bad pain. I looked and it was a wire from a stitch that was 'taken out' 3 weeks ago.

I pulled it out with some tweezers and on closer inspection found 2 more which I pulled out.

I had 6 stitches altogether and found 3 wires still left in. Is this normal? I don't know anything about this. Should I have pulled them out?

OP posts:
WTAF · 01/12/2011 20:15

Eek! It doesn't sound good, although I have no experience in these matters. If it looks ok and isn't in agony, maybe just give your practice nurse a ring tomorrow? I once had a cannula left in my leg and the nurse just told me to yank it out myself! So I did. Probably best to check though!

Original poster
hanaka88 · 01/12/2011 20:18

Yeh good idea I'll give them a call, thanks. I'm fine now but that first one that I must have moved really hurt until it came out.

OP posts:
complexnumber · 01/12/2011 20:28

I wouldn't worry too much, I have taken my own stiches out on more than one occasion.
It has saved a lot of time hanging around in nasty OP wards.

Original poster
hanaka88 · 01/12/2011 20:49

Thanks. It just freaked me out a bit. They're out now and it hasn't opened and doesn't hurt so I should just stop being a big softy.

OP posts:
Sidge · 01/12/2011 21:11

I'm not sure what you mean - sutures don't have wires usually but if you had orthopaedic surgery then they sometimes leave K-wires in that stay for up to 6-8 weeks until they review you. However they usually tell you to leave them alone as they're anchored in bone!

Otherwise sometimes there are dissolvable sutures deeper in the tissue and they work their way up and don't dissolve, so need removing. They're often like very stiff clear thread, quite plasticky.

Lilithmoon · 01/12/2011 21:58

Sorry for the hijack, but Sidge you sound like you know what you are talking about. DH has a stitch like this from an umbilical hernia repair he had 6 months ago. Is it normal that he can still feel it just under his skin?

Sidge · 01/12/2011 22:38

That can happen lilithmoon - it may well work it's way to the surface and break through. Usually if they're under the skin they dissolve as they're bathed in the tissue fluid, but if it's a bit dry it may not dissolve properly. If it does break through, make an appointment to see your practice nurse and s/he can trim/remove it. Alternatively it may be the edge of the mesh repair that he can feel - is he very slim?

dancingmustard · 01/12/2011 22:41

Many years ago thirtythreeish to be precise I had major surgery to both my forearms which involved hundreds of stitches.

Every now and then over the course of a few years one would break the skin.

I thought it was a pleasant experience pulling them out with a pair of tweezers.

Lilithmoon · 01/12/2011 22:48

Thanks for the advice Sidge. He is not slim.
He did trim it (only told me about it after the event!) a couple of months ago and I will ask him to go to the practice nurse is it ever pokes through again.
If I can return the favour with advice on large data sets or fancy excel functions feel free to ask [data geek emote].

jenniec79 · 01/12/2011 22:51

What sort of wires? Thick things which are really sharp on the end are called K wires; they go into the fracture to hold the position & should have been taken out by the guys who took your cast off if they were sticking through the skin (sometimes we bury them to stay in for keeps, but not so often.)

Sort of clear flexible plasticy thread is the only other thing I can think of - looks a little like fishing line - that's a dissolving stitch; leave alone.

jenniec79 · 01/12/2011 22:53

Lilith Yes you can often feel them under the skin for ages. The internal stitches are usually slow dissolving ones, but last for months, and can get a little nubbin of scar tissue around the knots which in turn can feel like a little lump even once the stitch is gone.

Original poster
hanaka88 · 01/12/2011 23:45

They were thick wires. They looked like the knotted ones they took out. They were quite hard to get out and the only thing I can think of is that they missed a bit.

They weren't in the bone or even through the muscle much you could see them through the skin.

OP posts:
jenniec79 · 04/12/2011 00:51

What colour? Might it have been a slow-dissolving stitch? Not many true metallic wires get knotted in surgery, and those that do are intended to stay in.

Shutupanddrive · 04/12/2011 06:45

I had one in my stomach that I pulled out myself. They were supposed to be dissolving stitches but that one obviously didn't dissolve for some reason. It was clear like thick cotton, was it one of those do you think?

Original poster
hanaka88 · 04/12/2011 06:55

They were dark grey. Like the ones they took out. They were in the same place as them... I have physio Friday, maybe I should mention it then.

OP posts:
Shutupanddrive · 04/12/2011 06:59

Eek yes definately mention to physio!

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