Internal Permanent Stitches??

[Well_Im_Endowed]

I recently had a redo and my PS chose to use these type of stitches because he said that he has found the scars heal much better. With my initial augmentation in 2006 he did not use them and I had bad hypertrophic scarring on my crease incisions and noticed this right from the start and they only grew worse over time. This time my scars (although longer as I went with 775cc cohesive gels) are so much flatter and even, I already see they are healing so much better than last time.

Do you normally use internal permanent stitches? Is this a relatively new trend? I'm just wondering why my PS wouldn't have done that even a year ago.

I do however have an issue with these stitches. On each side (inframmary incisions) the threads themselves are poking through and I wrote to ask my PS why INTERNAL stitches would be on the outside of my skin. This was his reponse (English is not his first language and I can't go back in as he is in Costa Rica):

If you seesome blak or blue stitches those are internal ones and are permanent. What you need to do is just to pull them out with some fine instrument. in case you do not have any you can put some small forceps in boiling water ten minutes and previously cleaning your skin with alcohol pull and cut them.

Now I do not feel comfortable doing this procedure myself at all. He also avoided answering the question as to why this was happening to begin with. I am going to see a PS here in Canada for tattoo removal and fillers for the lines on my face so I'll have him do this but I would like to know if this is something unusual or routine? Thank you for your time.

[jameslou]

I have the exact same problem. I e-mailed my PS today, i will let you know what he says.

[jojoxx]

I have had these three times they are usally the knots that they tie off with and are normal and need to be just trimmed off to remove ,although me the same as you have never felt comfortable doing this myself
so just book my self into the local nurse to remove . good luck

[jameslou]

I heard back from my PS, they stated " That is a suture knot you are describing, and it's best if you can remove it with some tweezers and maybe small scissors. Sometimes a tug from the tweezers will get it out, but if not, you'll have to pull up on it and clip it off with the small scissors. It will just get irritated if you leave it."

I sterilized the scissors and tweezers first in boiling water. I then just pulled up on the knot as far as I could tug it with moderate pressure and clipped it underneath the area where I was holding it. It left a small red indention where the knot was, but already feels so much better.

Hope this helps!

[drghaderi]

Using permanent sutures in a small incision such as for breast augmentation is not the norm. However, each surgeon has their own preferences. Whether the sutures are permanent or dissolvable, at times, if placed too close to the skin, they can poke through and a simple trimming of what is outside the skin takes care of the problem. Typicall having a medical professional do this for you results in the best outcome. Good luck.