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Stitches

Written by Stef at 14 Jul 2005 16:03:56:

Following my circumcision it was difficult to be certain for a few weeks just how many stitches there were round the incision, due mainly to scabbing, but I eventually ascertained that there were 25 ! This is many more than I have read that anyone else has had, the most I had read about previously was 14. My 25 stitches comprised 23 straw-coloured ones along the cut, & 2 dark blue coloured ones just below the skin on the course of veins. They were all very tiny, & some almost microscopic.
I had expected that they would dissolve & fall out themselves after about 2 weeks, although the aftercare paper which I was given when discharged from the hospital said "several weeks". The first one to drop out was on Day 8, then singles came out on Day 14,18 & 20, then 2 more on 5 weeks. So they were taking much longer than I expected to come out, & on 5 weeks & 2 days I cut out as many as I could. 2 of them caused a very slight bleed on removal, but the rest came out easily.
After that, there were still 5 left in ;- 2 of these(1 straw & 1 blue) were very deep set with just one small strand visible & no knot visible to cut through, & the other 3, at the base of where the frenulum had been, were joined in a scab which had yet to come off. That scab came off after 6 weeks & took 2 stitches with it, the other was easily cut out. The 2 deep set ones were more difficult- they had naturally worked their way toward the surface a little, & I tugged gently on them with tweezers to raise them a bit further, but I still wasn't able to get at the knot to cut it, so undid the knot of the straw coloured one with the tweezers, & it pulled through surprisingly easy. The blue one, on the vein, I didn't poke at too much, & it came out itself just after 6 weeks.
After I had removed all the stitches, there were slight tiny stitch tunnels with white skin around them, but they soon closed up, & there were no adverse effects from leaving the stitches in for that length of time.
My follow-up appointment was 7 weeks after the op, & the consultant said she was surprised that I was told they should come out themselves after 2 weeks, & that she wouldn't advise removing them until at least 4 weeks, so as to allow all of the tissues to heal.
As the stitches were slow in coming out, it had been difficult to know when I should intervene & cut them out. I have read here previously a few instances of stitches not falling out on their own when they should, & that it is not good to leave them in for too long, but as there were no problems, I suppose 5 weeks was about right.


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