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Women's health

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Spitting stitches

3 replies

Louise0923 · 22/07/2023 22:30

I’ve recently had a biopsy and was told I had one long running stitch which needed to be removed after 9 days. I had this stitch removed and about a week later there was a bit of stitch protruding from the wound.

I assumed the nurse had missed some of the stitch and attempted to remove it but it was stuck fast. I panicked a little, and thought it might be embedded so I went to our local walk in centre.

The doctor really struggled to remove it and it hurt a lot before he finally got it out. He was then confused as it didn’t look like the usual removable stitch material.

He took it to a colleague who said it looked like a dissolveable stitch. I’d brought the pack with me the nurse had given me after the procedure which clearly stated I’d only been given one long running stitch and the days for it to be removed. Both colleagues seemed confused by this but ushered me out as it was a walk in center.

After some reading it seems like it was a ‘spitting stitch’ and there was a second layer of dissolvable stitches done underneath the removable one. This seems more likely as now another plastic looking stitch has poked out of the wound!

My questions are- should my surgeon have told me about this, and what I should do if these do ‘spit out’? And what do I do if this happens? The removal wasn’t extreme pain but it did feel like it shouldn’t have happened! Anyone have any experience?

OP posts:
WhatHasHeDone · 22/07/2023 22:41

They can take weeks to actually dissolve sometimes. I’m guessing they didn’t mention it as they didn’t expect it to poke through and for you to even know about it. They only really mention the sutures that need removing.

You can give it a gentle tug with tweezers. If it doesn’t come out, try a day or two later.

dearJayne · 22/07/2023 22:54

I've had them work their way out after my cesareans. Don't worry about it. Some of them work their way back out.

MockneyReject · 22/07/2023 23:26

I had this, recently. It was about 1cm long. Google advised to gently pull it and cut it close to the body.
I had no further problems with it.

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