Did you ever have stitches and have them come out in some way? What happened?

Often. I have have trouble keeping stitches in. Always forgetting and catching them on something.

Not me – but a friend had had a C-section and she had skin staples, which they removed before they sent her home from the hospital. She called me and asked me to come over to watch the baby, as she had to go back to the hospital because her incision had opened up. EWWWW!

It was fascinating and gross all at the same time. It was smoothness inside the incision, and a little blood spurted out when she showed me – but that was a ‘blood pocket’ – it wasn’t bleeding. I took her and the baby back to the hospital and they put a girdle around her to hold the incision back together. Very interesting….

Now, when I had to check stitches in my son’s mouth after his wisdom teeth were removed I almost fainted. I had to go and put my head between my knees! I’m not squeamish usually – but with my kids I guess it’s different.

Got a big ol’ mole removed from my back, and needed stitches, when I was 10 or 11. They were the kind that disintegrated over time, and more or less just fell out when I was in the shower. Severe lack of ick-factor. Sorry.

I had stitches on two different occasions. Once on my lip, and once on my right index finger..

Lip – I ran into a dark room while messing around with some friends, tripped on a bag, and hit my mouth on the edge of a wooden chair. My braces went right threw my lip, and was hooked on the outside. I was taken to the ER, and was given dissolvable stitches. This was back in Junior High.

Index Finger – I was helping my dad clean up the yard a bit, and was throwing pieces of wood into a burn pit. I picked up a long board, and went to throw it, much like you would throw a baseball. And the nail at the end (didn’t see the nail) caught my index finger, and did a nice little spin move to the ground towards my feet. The nail went right through my index finger. Too add insult to injury the nail was a bit rusty and I had to get a tetanus shot that same day. I had regular stitches for this one, and after a week or so, I decided to un-thread them using some needle nose pliers. They were just waaaay too itchy! This story was back in my Sophomore year in highschool.

I had an episiotomy done with the birth of my second child. When the procedure was being done by a student doctor I heard him say “oops”. He cut too much. first ick

About a week later a few stitches came out and I developed an abscess. second ick. Not the best place for an abscess. It was one of the worst pains I’ve ever had to deal with.

I haven’t had them come out accidentally, but I have removed them myself. A long time ago in a different life, I worked in a factory that made furnace fittings and was getting cut up all the time. Probably collected over 100 stitches out of that place. I got to know about how long they had to stay in and didn’t see the point of going to a doctor just to have them snip them and pull them out with a pair of tweezers. I’d just douse them in Betadine and pull them out with nail scissors and a pair of eyebrow tweezers. Never got an infection from it, but I was probably lucky.

I had stitches in my neck after my hemithyroidectomy (say that three times fast!). There were cloth bandages I would use to cover up the area, as it was pretty big, and they had to be changed two or three times a day. After a few weeks, once my skin knitted itself back together, I merely went to my ear, nose and throat guy, he snipped the knot at the end and pulled the whole thing out.

These answers are making me queasy.

Depending on how long the stitches stayed in and where the cut is, the wound will be partially open to varying degrees.

Some stitches are dissolve on there own, some stitches come out on there own. It all depends on what thread the doctor uses. Some Stitches are itchy because your skin is healing or maybe infected. When in doubt, take a couple minuets out of your day and call your doctor. You rather be safe then sorry

I had a stitch go into my chin and then emerge a while after the wound had healed.

@jonsblond Holy ick! Just the word “episiotomy” makes me squirm. Your story made me do the icky shiver dance.

I slammed my arm through a storm door when I was 15 or 16 and cut my forearm down to the bone. My stitches came loose and I went to the doctor early. He went ahead and removed them based on how the cut was healing, but I had to wear a bandage for a while to keep it protected.

I had two tears when I delivered my son vaginally. It was the first time I’ve ever needed stitches. They were the kind that just fall out on your own.
Now, I don’t know if you ever plan on having children, but I know many women who felt the same way…afraid to have a bowel movement because “what if the stitches pop?!” and it’s just a generally weird feeling, but they fall out within a week or two.
I remember using the squirt bottle (yes, instead of wiping, you actually use a squirt bottle to wash yourself after peeing. it’s wonderful) and saw a stitch fall out. They weren’t black, sort of yellowish clear in color. I think I had two that I noticed and that was it. Since I had two small tears, I didn’t need many stitches.

I also had a lymph node removed from my neck, but the incision was small enough that he used a glue to close it. I only have a tiny scar and I remember feeling the glue and it sort of peeling off like any other glue would. I let it happen naturally.

When I was in high school I had stitches in my mouth from when my wisdom teeth were extracted. I kept playing with them with my tongue, and they came out suddenly before they should have at church during communion. I skipped the grape juice that day.

When I had foot surgery the guy put in two sets of stitches, some underneath that were supposed to dissolve and some in the top layer that were black thread. When it was time for the black stitches to come out the doctor snipped one knot and pulled the whole thread out at one go. He was lucky he wasn’t kicked. The “dissolvable” stitches apparently didn’t and slowly worked their way to the surface where I pull them out. Periodically I develop an itchy bump on the scar and a few days later a yellowish thread appears and I pull it out with tweezers.

When my husband had heart surgery they used staples to hold his rib cage together, and used surgical-grade Superglue to hold the surface tissues together. The incision started opening up from the bottom and got infected. Instead of re-fastening it the docs taught me how to apply medication and pack the wound. Yay, military medicine.

Our very large dog the American Bulldog, 120 pounds had to have orthopedic surgery to repair damage done by her previous neglectful owner. Being a young dog and a huge one it was difficult to convince her to hold still and not bother the stitches. She was too big to go into any of the kennels I could find locally so we tried the usual Elizabethan collar and so on. Even though we used all sorts of elaborate means to keep the stitches covered and keep her mouth away from them she managed to remove about 6-inches worth. She bled all over the couch and we had to get the stitches put back in again and put her back in antibiotics. I finally had to put her on a leash and keep her with me all the time so her incision could heal.

Before I got braces, I had to have a gum graft on my lower gums because it was too thin there. They lasered off a chunk of the roof of my mouth and sewed it into my gums (like where you would hold chewing tabacky, under my bottom teeth). OUCH. It. hurt. so. bad. And the procedure was the most awful thing… I can’t even type about it. Seriously. And it was right before Halloween and I couldn’t eat any candy. :( I couldnt’ even talk. The stitches were these huge black string things. Some of them wiggled loose, but I wouldn’t pull them out or let my parents do it, so they just dangled there until I saw the surgeon again.

Also, after my c-section, I had stitches, but they took them out in the hospital before I went home. I don’t know what it looked like after- I didn’t look at it for months. I just squirted some water on it in the shower, and that was it. I didn’t want to see because I’m a huge wuss.

I’m gonna go pass out now from reading all these responses.

@jonsblond- OMFG. I’m hoping this baby will come out in pill form, and I’ll be able to put it in a glass of water and it will expand in 3 hours.

@ubersiren They took them out in the hospital (for the c-section) What kind did you have? I’ve gotten advice from c-section mommas, just in case I need one. Some love the glue and some have had staples…do you even get a choice in how they sew you up when it comes to that? Also, are you trying for a VBAC this time?? I have a friend who just had a c-section and the doctor said she cut her in a way that was the best for a VBAC so when she wants her fourth, she is going to go for one.

@casheroo : I had staples last time. They didn’t give me a choice of glue or staples. I am, indeed, trying for VBAC. I will try everything in my power to avoid a c-section again. Trouble is, now I’m scared of passing a melon head through my loins. Has your friend had other vaginal births, or will the next baby be her first?

@ubersiren She had two vaginals, and they told her that her 3rd (a boy) was getting too big. Of course the ultrasound was wrong, but she had a midwife who was there for it all. He wasn’t too big, but he had an issue with the cord so it was a good thing she had a c-section.
Don’t be worried. A vaginal does suck, but I’ve heard the recover is so much better. My recovery took a while, because I broke my tailbone. But that was something separate from a normal delivery. Just be strong. Don’t do the interventions unless absolutely necessary, and I’d actually search for a midwife or doula to help you.

Like @Darwin, I too had my wisdom teeth removed (all 4!) and subsequently could not leave the stitches alone. They eventually fell out, or were loose enough for me to reach into my mouth and yank them.

I also had two bunionectomies at the same time, and they stitched up about 2–3” on the top of both feet where the operation took place. Unfortunately, it happened at a time of year when socks and such would be worn, so the stitches caught on a lot of things. They eventually fell out (were they dissolvable? I have no idea.) and I don’t think I returned to the doctor. :D

I assumed a new name just to answer this question.
About the time I met my husband he pulled a stitch that he assumes was left over from his circumcision from his thang. He now has a little hole that is like a piercing right in a sensitive spot.

@Alter_Ego: Wow, that’s certainly not what I expected to hear! I didn’t even realize you could need stitches for that, did he have the circumcision has an adult?

@Alter_Ego : That’s very strange… ouch!

@La_chica_gomela I guess when they’re adults they need stitches since it’s a bigger cut?? I’m not really sure. I know my infant son didn’t have stitches but it was a tiny little cut.

@La_chica_gomela – A friend of mine learned the hard way why you should never pee outside in Greenland and had to have a circumcision as an adult to resolve the frost bite. He did indeed have stitches. This was particularly painful because after being in Greenland for 6 months without seeing any women at all he was confronted with many young and good-looking female nurses in the hospital. His stitches tore out every time he reflexively “saluted” a nurse when she came into his room.

@casheroo: That’s what I was wondering, because Jewish babies are circumcised at home, and barely even bleed, they definitely dont usually have stitches!

@Darwin: Wow! That sounds like a really painful experience!

He was circumcised as a baby 60 years ago. The stitch popped to the surface in his 40’s. Now he just has a little hole he could thread an earing through if he wanted.