The Surgeon Mouse Has Determined that Removing Stitches Is Beneficial to Your Health

Dear Friends and Family,

It's been two weeks since my surgery. And, since I'm so impatient, I decided to remove my stitches by myself today vs. waiting for Mr. mouse to help me tomorrow.

Before you think I was taking my life into my own hands here... My dermatologist gave me sterilized scissors and tweezers and told me I was free to take them out on my own in two weeks if I didn't want to drive in for another appointment.

I'm all about D-I-Y, so I figured I'd give it a try.

How to remove stitches: (stop here if you are the squeamish kind)

1. clean the area thoroughly with soap and water
2. dry and apply antibiotic
3. study the stitches, do any appear tight or loose?
4. pick one - I went from loosest to tightest - although all of them were pretty tight
5. slip the tip of the scissors under the stitch, on one side of the knot
6. SNIP
7. use the tweezers to slowly pull the stitch out - from the knot side (NOTE: The knot, obviously, only comes out one way. It'll get stuck in the other direction.)
8. proceed to next stitch

So, I think two weeks is too long for stitches. But, who am I to argue with a certified professional? One of the stitches began getting buried under new skin, so removing it was a combination of the steps above with the steps for removing a splinter. It was tricky since it was on my left arm. I could use the scissors or the tweezers at any given time, not both. Also, that last stitch, the buried one, wouldn't come out cleanly. I was concerned I was doing it wrong. I had to dig to get the tip of the stitch out of the new skin and then apply a slow steady pressure to try to pull it out. It wouldn't move at first, although everything around it was puckering up. Then, with continued steady pressure, I felt something "give" underneath my skin, in a non-painful kind of way, and it came out easily enough after that. No pain, just squeamish.

It's all done now. I'm going to keep it covered for two more days, since I still have two days worth of gauze. Then, I'll switch to band-aids until the stitch entry and exit holes close up.

It feels good to have this behind me. I sleep better at night.


Cheers!
mouse