separation of sutures HELPPPPPPPPP

hello ladies,,,went to the dr on monday since i was separating at the suture line,he told me it was superficial and to clean it daily with water and peroxide ,which i ahve been doing ,but i think the incision is spearating more and deppper and is a little redder,,has this happen to anyone and shouldnt the dr ahve resewn me up ? hmmmmm..................
dana

Hi Dana

I didn't have sutures, I had dermabond glue which pulled apart about one week after my return home. My doctor did nothing but tell me to keep it clean and dry also. However, if yours is red and coming even further undone, I would definitely call the doc. Could be sign of infection. Also, make sure you aren't lifting or bending in ways you shouldn't be

This is only my opinion and I'm not any kind of medical expert.
I think hydrogen peroxide burns wounds and can set back the healing process. If there is infection that needs cleaning out that's a different thing. Otherwise, IMO and in my experience, antibiotic type ointments promote faster healing with less scarring.
If it were my incision and I saw no sign of infection I would keep it as clean and dry as possible and put a butterfly over the split, but I wouldn't want to burn the wound open with hydrogen peroxide. If anything, I'd want to seal the skin with neosporin.
I would ask your doctor if you need antibiotics or special tape.

If you read through some of my posts from this last weekend you'll see I had the weekend from hell due to the incision opening. Here is what happened and what I've been told so it might help you slightly.

Basicall, at 12 days post-op (Saturday), I slipped in the kitchen at home, fell backwards and twisted sideways to try to stop the fall and ended up ripping my incision open...skin and fat layers, and could see the layer of sutures underneath that holding the fascia together (that's what the doc said).

I went to the ER, and that doc called mine, who was not on call. The doc on call said to steri strip it. ER doc wasn't sure if it should be steri-stripped or stapled because of the risk of infection which is why he called the doc. So, they washed it out really well and steri stripped it. Sunday I had a huge increase in the amount of pain I was in. I called the doc on call who I've never liked (well, can't stand is probably more truthful) and he was very short with me and said go the ER, I can't do anything over the phone. I was just wanting some reassurance or something, or a guess as to what it was (muscle tear, internal hemorhage, normal pain increase)...at least a guess or a list of what it can be since I know he can't tell over the phone. He didn't even want to talk to me or hear my story.

So, back to the ER I go. Got an IV and lots of fluids, labwork, pain meds. Doctor there hardly even touched me, said it was most likely a muscle tear. Sent me home. Nurse who discharged me looked at the steri strips and saw that they were looking very ugly. She put more steri strips over a spot where some had come off. Lots of drainage, pus and increased redness on one side. She told me to wash the outside of it very well in the shower with lots of soap.

So, I took a shower Monday evening, washed, and whad'ya know, steri strips came off and I opened wide open again. So back to the ER I go again, for the 3rd time in three days. ER doc called on-call gyn. I was worried because it was a holiday weekend and I assumed that it would be the same doc who was on call the previous two days. Luckily it wasn't. It was someone else who I had never met but he came and saw me in the ER and was very nice. He said the options are to either close it or to leave it open. He decided to call the general surgeon and get his opinion if he was in the hospital.

Well, general surgeon wasn't in the hospital but offered to come in and take a look, even though he lived 30 minutes away! Gyn was suprised because he just wanted to talk to him over the phone and stop by if it was convenient. An hour later general surgeon came in and it happened to be someone I know pretty well from the music world. He walked into my room with the ER doc and the gyn, started to introduce himself, and then stopped, pointed at me, and said to the other docs "Well, you didn't tell me it was Maria. If I'd have known that I would have come in sooner. I'm glad I decided to come in." And so was I. He cleaned everything out and offered to sew it shut again. Thank you Jesus! He sewed it shut and started me on antibiotics (I had just taken my last one the day before that I had been on since being in the hospital).

I went to see my gyn today after his nurse called me and said he wanted to see me (I hadn't called him yet to tell him about all the weekend excitement, but I guess he got the records and talked to his partner who saw me and immediately wanted to check me out). He took a look at my incision and said it looks nice but that he was suprised that he sewed it shut. Apparently when you open up after surgery (a week or more) the chance of you getting an infection in your incision increases by a lot! When you sew it shut, staple, or steri strip it you can trap that infection in and it won't have anywhere to go so it spreads a lot. He said if he were on call he probably would have left it open and have me pack it several times a day, but he said he was glad the general surgeon checked it out and that it looked nice with no signs of infection.

I see the gen surgeon tomorrow to have the stiches out and steri strips put back on (which scares me because that means the stiches have only been in for three days and I think it's too soon to have them removed). I would assume that the reason your doctor wants to leave it open is because of the chance of infection if it were closed, especially if its superficial. Mine was pretty deep since you can see all the fat and the next layer of sutures, but doc said he still would have left it open, which means it would have taken me months (literally) before it would have closen up. Keep a close eye on your incision, keep it clean, and if it shows any signs of infection call or go to the doc. Same thing if you think it's getting deeper...go to the doc. Better to be safe than sorry!

Hope you enjoyed my novel. Maybe I should see about getting it published!

I would not clean a wound with hydrogen peroxide and water.....go to your local pharmacy and ask the pharmasist to assist you in finding a bottle of contact lense solution that is ONLY SALINE. ( I did this with my incision) If you were in the hospital and were my patient, there would be no use of peroxide, it interferes with healing.
If your incision becomes reddened and is losing fluid from the incision it is time for a Dr to assess it.
That is my 2 cents worth, best of luck to you.

Just a thought,
I had terrible problems with the steri strips. I got an infection on top of the skin on the incisions and on the drain tube insertion holes. Everywhere they put steri strips got ugly. It was the best thing for me when they took them all off, cultured the incision, and got me the correct antibiotics. It cleared up immediately.

It took a little more than a month for the very last of the middle to close completely. The plastic surgeon said that was completely normal, that the underlying tissues were healing in the right order. He did have me using peroxide on the infected parts, even though everyone else said not to. I figured he was a plastic surgeon and his job was to deal with wound care?

I am sorry you are all going through this-I was told to leave it open to the air as much as possible. So nightgown and no panties, and I would tent my sheets so that nothing was touching it. It seemed to help it heal faster.

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