What are Internal Stitches?

[Irina]

What are internal stitches and do they dissolve themselves or need to be taken out?

[tae_tap]

If you are sewed up internally they dissolve and steri strips are usually used to keep the area safe for about ten days. This is just from my experience as a podiatrist assistant.

Tamena

[Irina]

What happens with steri strips then? Do they fell off themselves or a doctor takes them out?

[tae_tap]

After about ten days they begin to lift and if you can reach the area you remove them if not whoever takes care of your dressing will take them off. You will still cover the wound a few more days to a week with a wrap or dressing of some kind.

Tamena

[LindaRacine]

Irina...

Internal stitches are what sews soft tissue together. One can't just sew the skin together, and hope that everything reattaches the way it's supposed to. In most cases, the stitches dissolve over time. In some cases, a stitch or two might be rejected by the body, and they'll make their way to the surface.

--Linda

[titaniumed]

Irina

Internal stitches are used internally. When they go in beyond the skin layers, there are plenty of things they come across and need to be sewn back up. Some of this is called microsurgery. In the 1st picture, notice the needle going through a hair. A human hair is approx .005 in diameter. Amazing that they can do this......they will use an operating microscope. If you google “internal stitching surgery”, you will see graphic surgical videos of internal stitching. Notebook paper is .003 thick, they have stitching materials as small as .0007. Split the paper 4-1/2 times, now you can get the idea of how small they can go. Knot techniques also can be exacting and take time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsurgery

There are many suture materials they use, and is a complex subject. Here is a comparison chart from Wik.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suture_...mparison_chart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyglycolide
Studies undergone using polyglycolide-made sutures have shown that the material loses half of its strength after two weeks and 100% after four weeks. The polymer is completely resorbed by the organism in a time frame of four to six months.[2]



Basically, from what I have read, you can connect soft tissues together for 10 days(basic suture 101) and they will heal together. If someone goes in and has extensive work done internally, you can see why they really are in a delicate state and should take things easy after surgery. I didn’t lift more than a dinner plate for a few months since I had an extensive anterior procedure done. My thought wasn’t about doing damage to the back so much as it was for my delicate abdomen.....you don’t want to tear things apart, but you do need to move “gently” for the first few weeks while you heal.

Ed

[tae_tap]

Ed,
The majority of my pain is in my lower left abdomen as well. It even hurts to laugh, which I hate because humor is the one thing that keeps me sane.

Tamena

[Irina]

Thank you everyone for your responses. This is all new to me and you're really helping me out.