Circumcision Healing

[CircumcisedKing]

So I have a question, I’m at 6 weeks and still have 50% of my stitches and the frenulum area seems to still be swollen. I’m not too concerned with those because I know we all heal differently. But my real issue is, does anyone know if internally you heal sooner then externally or what? I’m sure Circumcision has to cause some internal bruising and just wondering if anyone has any info on this.

[S2BC]

Sutured/stapled/glued wound will heal first on surface level and deeper tissue level it takes lot more time. If the wound get infection, dissolvable sutures ripped off too early etc. and there will be wound dehiscence (wound opening). Then the wound starts to heal first on bottom of the wound (wound bed).

What is the difference between primary and secondary intention?

teachmesurgery.com/skills/w...

Four stages of wound healing: physio-pedia.com/Wound_Healing

"- Epithelialization happens faster when wounds are kept moist and hydrated.

- Generally, when occlusive or semi-occlusive dressings are applied within 48 hours after injury, they will maintain correct tissue humidity to optimize epithelialization.

-Generally maturation (remodelling) begins about 21 days after an injury and can continue for a year or more.

-Healed wound areas continue to be weaker than uninjured skin, generally only having 80% of the tensile strength of unwounded skin."

Healing curve:

imgur.com/a/KSQw4Y1

Clearing the air about moist vs dry wound healing:

woundsource.com/blog/cleari...

The benefits of moist wound healing:

woundsource.com/blog/benefi...

Mythbuster: I need to let the air get to this wound:

nursinginpractice.com/clini...

Why to cover? Wound temperature and healing: blog.wcei.net/wound-tempera...

--

That's it? Is it over, when the wound is healed and there is no discharge anymore?

Unfortunately no. If your target is to have a smooth incision line, the scar will develop for next 12-18 months post-op.

Updated Scar Management Practical Guidelines: Non-invasive and invasive measures: sciencedirect.com/science/a...

[CircumcisedKing in reply to S2BC]

Wow, thank you. I appreciate all the information you found. I’ll be looking through all the links

[S2BC in reply to S2BC]

To all you readers:

The moist wound care does not mean to apply petroleum jelly (or antibiotic ointment at all) on to wet wound right after shower. You need to pat dry the wound area with a clean cloth at least or use hair dryer (cool/mild setting).

Do not apply unbreathable plastic foil type material to wet wound before you have dried it first and put a absorptive gauze. The idea is not to stew the incision site.

FYI: These cheap tricks help you to prevent a gauze stick in to wound discharge. Put a strip of paraffin/silicone gauze to first layer near the wound and cover then with a normal gauze.

Some useful products: paraffin gauze 'Jelonet', 'Cuticell', 'Stayguard' etc.

silicone gauze 'Mepitel one'

You can cut these to fit size with a scissors.

For to attaching paraffin and normal gauze: My "trust one" white, paper tape 3M 'Micropore' surgical tape. For consumers it might sold also as '3M Nexcare paper tape'

Easy to use and quite easy to loosen.

I haven't tried, but there is also silicone adhesive tapes available.

'Micropore', 'Medvance', 'Mepitac', 'Cicatape' etc.

These can be used for attaching and later as a first layer and they are easy to loosen.

[Hidden in reply to S2BC]

Thanks S2BC for such thorough advice. Your presence on the forum is invaluable.

[CircumcisedKing in reply to S2BC]

Thank you, it’s extremely helpful

[roddythescot]

It is very desirable to get those stitches out. They will have completed their job with about a fortnight and can only cause trouble if allowed to remain. Until they are out you are bound to have much more swelling and discomfort.