Dissolve-able stiches get hard like a wire

[Swayam101]

Hi, I just did my circumcision 10 days ago and my stitches are transparent and are very hard and feels like plastic (doc said they are dissolvable though). However I've seen many posts in this forum where yall's stitches seem to be soft wires. So the problem is that my stitches will always tangle the clothes because they're literally poking out and due to this reason I can't wear anything (not even tight briefs because it's made of cotton), and I'm too afraid that it might accidentally tear the wound

[roddythescot]

There are several different types of suture (stitch) material, some of which are thicker than others. Colour can be white or black - it makes no difference.

Soluble stitches are dissolved only by enzymes which are brought to the site of the wound by your lymph. Often there is too little lymph on the surface so the stitches can be slow to dissolve. However they do their job in 10-12 days at most, so can (and should) be removed after 14 days - which you can do yourself or ask your doctor or nurse to do it for you.

As stitches dry out they can become very sharp and dig into you or catch in underwear. You can keep a wrap of gauze over them until they are removed or fall out to avoid this.

[Swayam101 in reply to roddythescot]

Thank you soo much you just cut off my fear...

[DDMP]

I covered mine with Vaseline and they started falling out at about 14days and after another week they had all fallen out. Maybe 4 weeks maximum. Mine had dissolved/tightened to the point that other than the tails, I couldn’t see the knots and that’s why I just let them fall out over 2 weeks past the 14 days. Feels so much better each time one comes out, so if it’s possible to get them removed at 14 days, go for it.

[Hidden]

After 10 days it’ll be safe enough to snip the sharp ends off and just leave knots in place until they drop off. That may help with comfort.

Many will advise removing dissolving sutures but it really isn’t necessary and may cause more disturbance problems than if you leave them. They’ll typically drop off by themselves between three and five weeks.

[Ppplll]

Did your sutures dissolve in the end? I'm on day 7 and the sutures are now so brittle and painful.