"Dissolving Stitches".....Do Not Like *kinda gross story - pics now*

[booker81]

Surgery is scheduled for Sept 10....calling it "scar revision" aka, cut the whole shebang out and sew it back together the "old" way with external stitches. Woo.

I am on abx the whole time, so should be OK other than it's just messed up and gross looking, and I have daily wound care, since it's a nice open wound now.

 

[Chicken Girl]

Can i see a pic of what it looks like now? lol sorry i like gross stitches and stuff. And i hope you heal well this time. I just had foot sergury 3 weeks ago. But my cut is like 1 in big lol.


Chicken Girl

 

[crtrlovr]

sorry for the trauma you're going through.

My mother is another one whose body doesn't react well to the "dissolving" sutures. She had abdominal surgery and kept having issues which the dr. ignored. Finally some of the internal stitches worked to the surface in some areas that erupted similar to a boil. Once she got the suture material out, she healed very well.
ETA: I hope your revision goes well, and that you have a swift, complete, and uneventful (in a GOOD WAY!) recovery!

 

[Wildsky]

Seems like they don't work for a number of people. The stitches I had from my c-section didn't disolve properly either. they did a bit but the ends of the cut had big "blob's" where the stitches got "stuck" - I eventually got them out myself, with lots of difficulty and not too much damage. But I do have an odd scar - very skinny in the middle you can hardly see it, but the ends are a little "blueish" looking.

 

[booker81]

Quote:
Ask, and ye shall receive

One pick looks REALLY red, it's just the lighting in here.

Part of the suture....this section just pops in and out. If my leg is straight, it's out like this. If it's bent, it goes and hides. It's like a little pet

Yes, the hole is a hole, not an optical illusion. It's about 1/4" deep or so. That's where the loop of suture keeps poking in and out, so it keeps the hole open, and growing.

ETA: If there are any nurses or medical folk who are worried because I have an open hole with a long suture exposed (because apparently it is a long looping deal), I do have a LOT of experience with wound care - both on myself and my various mishaps, on animals (horses), and people (my father with various PICC lines and their care, ostomy care etc). I evaluate it carefully twice a day, along with my well being (fever, aches, rashes, chills). I am comfortable with what my surgeon did and will do. He hasn't done wrong, my body is just silly sometimes. I'm fine with waiting until the 10th as well - because if something happens, I will trot right on into the ER.

)

 

[booker81]

Oh, for comparison, this was two weeks ago...before it started...well...erupting.

 

[Wildsky]

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeepers that looks painful.

 

[Chicken Girl]

THANK YOU!!! lol That looks like it hurts!Dose it? And what did you have done?
Sorry this stuff is just so neet to me! lol GET BETTER SOON!!!


Chicken Girl

 

[booker81]

Well, had my surgery! YAY! MUCHO better!

I took a peek and I have a nice, neat, clean line of little black stitches. I only looked at the top and bottom, guessing I'll have in the 50 stitches range or so. He did an nice job on the top and bottom, from what I see

Very uniform, no scar tissue, no keloid mess left either.

As I've already told, gross pics.

This was the day before, or day of surgery, can't remember. Obviously in very poor shape:

Remember, I know how bad it was, and the surgeon did as well, I was on antibiotics, we knew it was being rejected, it was not an emergency, nor was I going septic, just a really bad reaction

The doc said it well right before surgery - it's not my fault, it's not his fault, it's not the suture's fault, it's the fault of the suture and my body

It's a new type of suture, and it's worked fantastically well on a lot of people, but every now and then, out of hundreds of people, it will FLIP OUT on one person. I got to be lucky I guess, and it's just something to put in my medical records - no internal sutures.

The "now" picture:

I'm up and about, feeling good between waves of nausea from the darn anesthetic. That stuff always knocks me for a loop for a couple of days. I do have medication for the nausea, but that makes me sleep for hours.

All in all, doing good! Happy to have that mess off of me!

ETA: Because of the extent of the initial surgery, I do have a lot of superficial nerve damage, so I don't have much pain on the "skin" level of my knee/leg. The top pic looks bad, but it felt like an annoying scrape. The new stitches feel the same - a mildly annoying scrape.

 

[User66184]

Glad Its Healing!