Would you remove a stitch yourself at home?

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

I have one stitch in the side of my nose following a biopsy.
And an appointment tomorrow to remove it that I am going to struggle to get to after school - can't take time off and also have my covid jab the same evening in a different town.
It looks 100% healed with no redness, discharge or scabs in sight.
I'm very, very tempted to follow the advice online about removing it myself. Lots of how to pics etc.

Wwyd?

Change the stitch removal appointment?

I did, it was between my fingers, just didn’t fancy another hospital trip.

Do you have a sterile stitch cutter and some antiseptic?

I have done in my leg , it was fine

I would.

Yep.
I have for me, and one if my cats too.

I did after my keyhole surgery for gallstones. Gp couldn't fit me in, no nurse appt and no district nurse. Stitches were too tight and getting inflamed so I snipped them.

100%. No need for sterile stitch cutters. Some sharp scissors recently washed in detergent will be absolutely perfect.

I have sharp small scissors and tweezers boiling in a pan. Alcohol wipes and hand sanitiser and a close mirror with a strong light built in.

Yes, I have done in the past. I was told that they were dissolving stitches but they didn't dissolve so I snipped them.

I did once, with nail clippers. I was interrailing and cut my finger while in Slovenia. They stitched it up, but they needed to come out when I was in Poland and no one would do it as it wasn’t an emergency!

I did, it had a long string from of wisdom tooth removal it was a never dissolving stitch causing more pain. It was fine.

So you work? Do you have occupational health? When I struggled to get a stitch removal appt I went to see the occ health nurse and she did it there and then. Said it maid a change from sore backs and vaccinations!

No, just change the appointment time.

Boil tweezers and scissors first.

Yes

I would on my leg or something, but not on my face.

Yes, had 5 stitches in my thumb a few years ago. Removed them myself, thumb is still intact.

Theres a technique to removing stitches so that you don’t introduce new germs into your healing wound. Its not just a case of snipping it and pulling it out.

I did it on my knee, but I wouldn’t do it on my face as you can only see it through a mirror - can you get someone else to do it for you?

I had surgery on a broken ankle. They removed about 8 stitches but managed to miss 2 which I removed myself with tweezers. Healed fine, no infection.

You need to grasp the knot and pull slightly (with tweezers ideally), and snip just underneath it. This way you aren’t dragging much of the thread underneath your skin and lessens chance of infection. Swab with antiseptic first.

I love you OP. I’m not advocating that everyone removes their own stitches but if even 5% of the population could employ this level of common sense the NHS could breath. Hope it goes well. X

All done. Boiled the tweezers etc. Opened a sterile dressing to lay equipment on.
Sterilised hands by washing and hand sanitizing. Used alcohol wipes on nose and stitch. Lifted and snipped stitch under the loop as several sites recommended. Stitch slipped out no problem and no pain at all as 100% healed that I can see. Then cleaned it all again with antiseptic wipe.
Will obv keep an eye on it to check how it goes for a while but I'm happy with how we prepped and how it went.

Well done! So satisfying doing things like that!