Question

What are the four stages of stitch healing?

Answer 1

The four stages of stitch healing are hemostasis (clotting), inflammation (cleaning), proliferation (tissue growth), and maturation (strengthening).

These stages of wound healing, can last from days to even over a year, depending on the wound, and involve stopping blood loss, cleaning the site and filling of the wound with new tissue as well as remodeling of the scar for maximum strength.

Hemostasis, occurs immediately or within hours and is when the body stops the bleeding by forming a clot, which as a temporary barrier.

Inflammation, which occurs within days 1 to 5, is when your immune system sends cells to the area and causes redness, swelling and heat, which kills bacteria and removes debris.

Proliferation, which occurs within days 3 to 21, is when the wound is filled with new tissue, or granulation tissue as new blood vessels and collagen are formed.

And maturation within 21 days to 1 year or more, which is also known as remodeling, and is the stage that involves your collagen rearranging, strengthening and the scar also fading.

Stitches take between 3 days to 14 days to heal, depending on the location of the stitches.

Most surface wounds that are stitched up, heal within about 7 days to 10 days.

And face stitches heal within 3 to 5 days and are removed within those 3 to 5 days to reduce scarring.

Stitches in joints and high tension areas, like the elbows, knees etc, heal within 10 days to 14 days.

Dissolvable stitches absorb over 1 to 2 weeks, although some dissolvable stitches can take a couple of months.

And although the stitches are removed quickly, it also takes between 4 weeks to 6 weeks for the tissue to rebuild to maximum strength.

While the stitches are healing, you should keep the stitches and wound dry for the first 24 hours to 48 hours, or up to 5 days for surgical glue.

The normal symptoms after getting stitches are mild bruising, mild swelling and some slight redness, which often peak around 2 to 3 days after the stitches.

Other normal symptoms after getting stitches are mild tenderness or even some itching as the wound heals.

Its also normal to have some light and clear drainage or a couple drops of blood after getting stitches and the initial symptoms often go away within a few days.

Having some slight soreness is also normal after getting stitches, but the soreness should go away over 1 to 2 weeks.

Getting stitches is considered a minor surgery and it involves using surgical techniques to close the lacerations or wounds and is often performed under local anesthesia, in which the area will be numbed and can be performed in an urgent care or office setting.

After getting stitches you often return home the same day and it's considered an outpatient procedure.

Wounds that should not be stitched are wounds that are clean, shallow or small cuts that are less than 0.25 in deep/0.75 in. long.

Other wounds that should not be stitched are minor abrasions, minor bites from animals or humans and also deeply contaminated, puncture or old wounds.

Wounds that are often older than 8 to 24 hours should not be stitched and closed as it can trap bacteria in the wound and cause infections.

Minor and shallow cuts, like superficial scratches or cuts that have smooth edges, often stay together on their own and don't need to be stitched.

Puncture wounds, like narrow and deep wounds, like from stepping on a nail are also difficult to clean and closing them by stitching them can trap bacteria and so they should not be stitched.

Skin tears, like delicate, paper thin skin tears, are often not stitched.

Abrasions like superficial scraping of the skin surface should not be stitched and are often not stitched.

Old wounds, like wounds that are older than 8 to 24 hours old, are likely already infected and so they are not stitched as they can trap in bacteria.

Bites like animal or human bites are also high risk for infection and so are left open often and not stitched.

Dirty wounds and contaminated wounds, with dirt, debris, rust etc often are not stitched as they often need to be left open to prevent infection.

Even if your wound seems small you should still seek medical attention if you have any bleeding that continues after 15 minutes of applying direct pressure, or if the wound is deeper than 0.25 inches or shows fat, muscle or bone.

Or if the wound is on the face or over a joint.

Or if the wound was caused by a rusty, dirty or foreign object or if the wound was caused by a human bite or animal.

Wounds that often do require stitches are wounds that are deep and over 1/4 inch, longer than 1/2 inch, gape open or continue to bleed after 10 to 15 minutes of direct pressure.

If the bleeding is uncontrollable and the blood is soaking through bandages and or spurting or you cannot move a finger or limb properly, which suggests nerve or tendon damage or if you have dirt, debris or foreign objects that are deeply embedded in the wound.