Stitches

[Guest Liz_in_PA]

Bonnie received stitches two Sundays ago. The e-vet put in two layers. I took out the outer stitches at the 10 day point. After Bonnie was able to lick and clean up the dried crud we were able to see that in two places, the stitches from the inner layer are poking out through the scar. Aren't the inner layers supposed to dissolve? These feel like cotton thread. Do I worry about them? Do I leave them alone? Do I trim them off as close as I can get? I'm putting bag balm on the scar every night and rubbing gently to help the scar relax. (Bonnie really enjoys that, her eyelids droop and I swear she'd purr if she could.)

[Batmom]

Ask the vet. Sometimes the dissolving ones don't, particularly in dogs like greyhounds with little fat/tissue. Usually you just pluck them out.

[Guest Energy11]

Yes, the internal ones, usually disolve. A quick phone call to the vet would be a good idea on this one. He/she could easily tell you what to do. I honestly have never come across this. Good Luck! Should be something easy, though!

 

 

[Rickiesmom]

This happened to me after Rickie's big surgery a couple of years ago involving a skin flap. My understanding is that the vets prefer not to interfere if possible, as it can compromise the integrity of the suture line. However, and this was the case with Rickie, the "escapee stitches" were very obtrusive in some places and the vet clipped them.

 

My understanding, which may be mistaken, is that it's best not to pull on internal stitches as they are done in a continuous series, rather than as individual stitches the way external ones are.

 

More recently when Rickie had a smaller surgery, he had a bit of reaction to the internal stitching material and developed what the surgeon called "suture rash". I kept it cleaned and soothed with saline applied with a surgical sponge and it settled down, though we had the occasional smaller flare up for awhile. In the case of this suture line the couple of stitches that surfaced weren't a bother so I left them. They disappeared - my assumption is that the material under the skin on either side dissolved, and these then dropped out.

 

If it's the same kind of internal suture material Rickie's surgeon used, it can take about 6 months to dissolve.

 

Good luck with Bonnie!

[Guest boondog]

My vet called this "spitting stitches" when it happened with Dillon. She said they'll usually disappear, but that you can cut them off if necessary. They shouldn't cause any problems.