Problem with Dissolvable Stitches

DreamOnDeb

My husband had a full nephrectromy on August 21st, so, in addition to the laparoscopic incisions, he has a 3 inch incision below his belly button where the kidney was removed.  They used the dissolvable stitches and they also used glue.  Well, the dissolvable stitches still haven't completely dissolved, and a couple of them have been partially "spit out" by his body (he had to pull them out).  The stitches that are still in there are causing some pain.  Has anyone else had this problem?  I've read that it can take up to six months for the stitches to completely dissolve.  It definitely does not look infected.  

Supersum

Medical care is required

I am not sure what is going on but it sounds to me like this really needs to get looked at by a medical professional.

The wound should have well and truly healed by now. If it hasn't there is a problem. Stitches should not be causing pain. They should be removed.

A trusted local medical centre (local doctor) should be able to deal with this, preferably with a resident nurse. They might order an ultrasound to check what is happening.

This is not a matter for forum advice first step is local medical care and if you don't think they are dealing with it properly then return to where you had the operation in the emergency department if necessary.

Everything should be fine with some medical attention let us know how things progress.

 

 

 

kiwi68

Dissolvable stitches

Hi, go and see your general practicioner, better still would be to see the surgeon.  He know what kind of stiching he used and how to remove them.   Another doctor might have to guess.  There is a thing called 'spitting' where dissolvable stiches 'spit' out to the surface.    A doctor is the right person to have a look at this for your husband. 

 

Here is what I know about dissolvable stitches from having them before.   They dissolve when they are under the skin, above skin not so much,  the parts on the top often need to be snipped and removed, which is just like regular stitches if they aren't snipped they can cause some local inflamation and also the skin can overgrow- called proud flesh sometimes.  It isn't infected per se, but over growing. It won't get better by itself.   The treatment is usually to take those little bits of skin and burn them with a silver nitrate stick.  Doesn't hurt and finally the wound heals and the wound heals fully. 

If it is inside that he has lumps it could just be a reaction to the stiches.

See if you can go to the surgeon he best know what kind of stiches he did.  

Supersum

Not everyone has access to

Not everyone has access to the surgeon post-operatively. I had a referral to a nurse, if I thought I needed urgent care I could go through emergency and be treated by doctors in emergency, or if they upgraded it to urology then I would be assigned to the next available urologist and it would only be a random chance that this would also be the surgeon.

I went through my trusted local medical centre family doctor with nurse attending who fixed something which was wrong with the stitching and was referred for a test but everything turned out okay.