Suture removal day for (Scar Revision)?

[HARIRI]

Im willing to do a scar revision to reduce the size of my scar to FUE it in the future so it would require less grafts.

 

I consulted two recommended doctors, One advised me to remove the sutures by day 6 or day 7 to avoid any sutures marks and the other insisted on 14 days or 10 days minimum otherwise any shorter period would be bad.

 

Im really confused, these two doctors are very well reputed in the network. Can any doctor or rep share his knowledge about this??? :confused:

[Dr. William Lindsey]

That is quite a divergent set of opinions.

 

I push for sutures to come out at day 7 so as to avoid suture marks, and, if the deep layer is closed well, the skin should be pretty much "done" by day 6 or 7.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

I agree with Dr. Lindsey. If you can take the sutures out sooner it increases chances of a smaller/finer scar. However, often if a scar revision is being performed there is some increased tension along the wound margins. Therefore a two layer closure should be used to bury or devert the tension away from wound margins.

[Jotronic]

Or just use staples and avoid the suture stretch marks all together:)

[HARIRI]

Thats interesting Joe, So you mean Staples are better for the scar appearance than Sutures, I have always thought vice versa. Thanks for that. I will make sure to ask for it whenever I get my scar revision.

[Jotronic]

Harrii,

 

The whole reason why we use staples is from research. After doing an in house comparison between staples and sutures (12 years ago involving 140 patients) we found that while both can produce a very acceptable donor scar the staples tend to consistently turn out better. Second, the staples allow for less tension in between the two anchor points of the staple. The tissue is neither being bunched up (think of shoe laces pulled too tight) nor stretched out.

 

As a by product because the staples are not capable of being tied too tight or bunch up the tissue there are not stretch marks that we have seen when patients are shaved down. The staples are completely non-reactive since they're made of stainless steel. The only downside is that they bug the hell out of you while you're waiting for them to come out. I hated them!