Dissolvable stitches.. help??

[Melodyrose2018]

Hi.. I had a laparoscopy 10 days ago with dissolvable stitches. I then had a wound check at 7 days, the nurse told me it looked good but I would need to come back in a week to have the top of stitches trimmed as they don’t dissolve. I was getting a lot of pain in one of the wounds today and it felt swollen so I took dressing off to check it. The stitches look totally embedded in my skin now, it hurts a lot and I don’t see how they would get to them at all..

can anyone put my mind at rest is this normal, can the top part dissolve into your skin?? Thanks

[Hidden]

On my first lap I had to have some removed as they didn’t dissolve also some were not dissolvable ( it didn’t hurt and they were in my belly button) my second lap one of my wounds got an infection; it happened because a scab healed over two stitches which caused a huge infection. It was very painful; I took prescribed painkillers for the pain, it felt hot, and was very red . A nurse looked at it and said it was looking good but I went back after a few days as it was still very sore and the nurse practitioner said it was infected as she thought there were stitches buried in the scab ( they were) so prescribed a strong dose of antibiotics. Within two days the stitches fell out and I felt so much better.

My third lap I was instructed to wear bandages for a week and touch wood I’ve had no issues with my wounds. ( it’ll be two weeks Monday since I had the lap)

My advice is head back to the GPS surgery xoxo

[Melodyrose2018 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for this. I had to go to minor injuries and they took a couple out but oddly left a few! A little scary when you’ve never had stitches before 😕x

[Sarahlou01]

It is normal for the sutures to absorb into the skin however if your wounds are painful there could be some infection there so you should probably get reviewed. Dissolvable sutures take forever to dissolve and i’ve always been advised if they haven’t dissolved after 7 days to get an appointment to have them removed. I’ve had four laparoscopys now and each time have had to trim or remove my sutures myself (i’m a nurse). Good luck xx

[Melodyrose2018 in reply to Sarahlou01]

Thank you.. I was told something different by two different nurses so I was confused. They removed the painful ones and I’m having the rest out Monday now. X

[Sarahlou01 in reply to Melodyrose2018]

That’s good that you’ve had the painful ones removed. Your body starts to reject them as a foreign object which is probably why they’d become painful. Hope you’re recovering well otherwise xx

[Melodyrose2018 in reply to Sarahlou01]

Spoken to 3 different nurses and none of them explained it as simple as you have.. makes sense now! Thanks Sarah x

[Sarahlou01 in reply to Melodyrose2018]

No problem lovely. I’m a children’s nurse so used to trying to explaining things simply! 😘 xxxx