question about stitches

[Special K]

First off, let me start by saying yes I know that ATOT is not the doctor's office. I already have a follow up visit scheduled for Wednesday, and will call the office on Monday to ask this question. Given that this is not an emergency, there isn't a lot I can do about it over the weekend. It takes me all of 2 minutes to type this post up, and I know there are a few people on here who could answer my question.

Anyway, I had 2 moles removed last Monday. They stiched up the cuts they made to remove them. Yesterday the bandages they put on started to come off on their own, and I got a look at the incisions. What bothered me is that on one of them, the two ends of skin were pulled all the way together, but on the other incision, there seemed to be a small gap between the ends of skin. The stiches are underneath the skin.

Is it ok to have a stiched incision where the two ends of skin are not completely touching each other? Will it still heal alright? Has anyone whose ever had stitches noticed this before?

I can post pics if anyone REALLY thinks it would help.

 

[Injury]

It won't hurt anything.

Your skin will grow over the gap either way; the goal of stitches is to ensure that the wound does not rip open, not to keep the skin together.

If the wound is spread wide, the two sides will take longer to meet, thus they are held together with threads to make them heal faster, and to ensure that the wound does not expand. Open wounds are prone to infection.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Injury
It won't hurt anything.

Your skin will grow over the gap either way; the goal of stitches is to ensure that the wound does not rip open, not to keep the skin together.

If the wound is spread wide, the two sides will take longer to meet, thus they are held together with threads to make them heal faster, and to ensure that the wound does not expand. Open wounds are prone to infection.

Will the scarring be worse if the skin is not pulled together?

 

[waggy]

they wont do anything.

I had a mole removed about 4 months ago. the stitches came apart. i went into the doctor and she removed the stitches and cleaned out the wound. I received a prescription for some antibiotics and that was it.

it healed together pretty well. i just have a big ugly scar on the back of my neck.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: waggy
they wont do anything.

I had a mole removed about 4 months ago. the stitches came apart. i went into the doctor and she removed the stitches and cleaned out the wound. I received a prescription for some antibiotics and that was it.

it healed together pretty well. i just have a big ugly scar on the back of my neck.

Did you feel it when the stitches came apart? Did the cut start bleeding again? I don't know if there's a gap because the cut ripped open or because that's just the way the doctor did it. Also were your stitches under the skin or on top?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: waggy
they wont do anything.

I had a mole removed about 4 months ago. the stitches came apart. i went into the doctor and she removed the stitches and cleaned out the wound. I received a prescription for some antibiotics and that was it.

it healed together pretty well. i just have a big ugly scar on the back of my neck.

Did you feel it when the stitches came apart? Did the cut start bleeding again? I don't know if there's a gap because the cut ripped open or because that's just the way the doctor did it. Also were your stitches under the skin or on top?

yeah i felt a burning sensation.

nope no blood at all. and the stitches were on the top.

reason i was giving for not restitching it was since it has started healing (took 2 days to get into the doctor again) they didn't want to close it. there would be a higher chance of it getting infected. so i got a prescription for antibiotics

it got infected anyway. was rather gross. my wife said the scab looked yellow and squeezed it. the scab popped off and a bunch of yellowish fluid came out. i had to go back in and she cleaned it out. it had not really healed at all. so i got a bunch more antibiotics

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Injury
It won't hurt anything.

Your skin will grow over the gap either way; the goal of stitches is to ensure that the wound does not rip open, not to keep the skin together.

If the wound is spread wide, the two sides will take longer to meet, thus they are held together with threads to make them heal faster, and to ensure that the wound does not expand. Open wounds are prone to infection.

Will the scarring be worse if the skin is not pulled together?

There will be scar tissue either way where your body fills in cells, but there probably won't be much difference between the two.

I had stitches on my hand back in January, and I didn't feel a THING the whole way, no pain or anything, until the first few hours the stitches were out. The wound spread a little and caused a little bit of pain, and bled for about a minute, but it was able to stop the bleeding itself.

I'm not sure what you mean by the stitches being under the skin or on top... the only stitches I've ever seen go under, come out, and knot on the top. Maybe some pics would be intersting after all. 🙂

 

[drinkmorejava]

either way you're going to have a damn nice scar. The mole cuts never seem to heal well. I myself have never had one taken off though; one on my back that's been through the males in the family for at least the last 6 generations. If they ever say they want it off I'll be like hell no, the scar will look worse than the mole.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Injury
It won't hurt anything.

Your skin will grow over the gap either way; the goal of stitches is to ensure that the wound does not rip open, not to keep the skin together.

If the wound is spread wide, the two sides will take longer to meet, thus they are held together with threads to make them heal faster, and to ensure that the wound does not expand. Open wounds are prone to infection.

Will the scarring be worse if the skin is not pulled together?

There will be scar tissue either way where your body fills in cells, but there probably won't be much difference between the two.

I had stitches on my hand back in January, and I didn't feel a THING the whole way, no pain or anything, until the first few hours the stitches were out. The wound spread a little and caused a little bit of pain, and bled for about a minute, but it was able to stop the bleeding itself.

I'm not sure what you mean by the stitches being under the skin or on top... the only stitches I've ever seen go under, come out, and knot on the top. Maybe some pics would be intersting after all. 🙂

Alright, here are a couple pics:

WARNING, PICS OF CUT AND STITCHES (if I don't say this someone will bitch)

Left Arm (skin together)

Right Arm (skin not together)

In the right arm pic I circled where the stiches are coming out of my arm.

 

[Injury]

Yep, you'll be okay.

The right arm might have a slight discoloration, but your skin/muscle is thick enough there that you shouldn't have bumpy scar tissue.

 

[Meuge]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Injury
It won't hurt anything.

Your skin will grow over the gap either way; the goal of stitches is to ensure that the wound does not rip open, not to keep the skin together.

If the wound is spread wide, the two sides will take longer to meet, thus they are held together with threads to make them heal faster, and to ensure that the wound does not expand. Open wounds are prone to infection.

Will the scarring be worse if the skin is not pulled together?

I wonder why it wasn't done. Usually, you can layer the stitching... and stitch both the deeper tissues, and then the skin on top. Good stitching will usually appose the skin very closely, and leave very little scarring. I don't know if there is anything you can do at this point, but I'd speak with a plastic surgeon if I were you. If they didn't have a good reason for not stitching the skin, you should consider legal action, to get the finances to have a plastic surgeon repair the scars (if they appear).

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Meuge

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Injury
It won't hurt anything.

Your skin will grow over the gap either way; the goal of stitches is to ensure that the wound does not rip open, not to keep the skin together.

If the wound is spread wide, the two sides will take longer to meet, thus they are held together with threads to make them heal faster, and to ensure that the wound does not expand. Open wounds are prone to infection.

Will the scarring be worse if the skin is not pulled together?

I wonder why it wasn't done. Usually, you can layer the stitching... and stitch both the deeper tissues, and then the skin on top. Good stitching will usually appose the skin very closely, and leave very little scarring. I don't know if there is anything you can do at this point, but I'd speak with a plastic surgeon if I were you. If they didn't have a good reason for not stitching the skin, you should consider legal action, to get the finances to have a plastic surgeon repair the scars (if they appear).

Actually this was done by a plastic surgeon. Well, the one on the left was done by the surgeon, the one on the right was done by one of his residents.

Is it possible there were stitches in the skin, they came out or ripped, and I never noticed or saw them?

 

[Fritzo]

It'll grow back together, trust me on this 😉

You're probably fine.