Removing Sutures : Stay or leave?

[hairz]

Hello all, Do you think I should stay the full 14 days to have the doctor remove the sutures or leave the next day and have a doctor near me do it?

[tacolinowest]

stay, no question about it

[TakingThePlunge]

hairz,

 

Lots of members here have traveled far and wide for their hair transplants and returned home before having the sutures removed. I'd check with your GP. Removing the sutures can be done anywhere.

[Cant decide]

I drove 8 hours for my procedure and then came home. Fourteen days later I drove back again to have the sutures removed. I know they say its easy to remove them but I would only trust my doc's clinic or another good HT clinic near you to take them out.

[Eman]

hairz-

 

This is what I had done. I spoke to the local HT doctor here in Chicago--Dr. Konior--about going to his office to have my sutures removed. He accepted, removed them plus I had a chance to speak with him at length and he got to see Rahal's work.

 

Any nurse or personal doctor in your area will be able to easily remove your sutures if you do not want to do what I did.

 

Trust me, you are going to want to be home for those 14-days. You will go stir crazy in an unknown town needing to wear a surgical cap to go out. Healing in a familiar environment or holing up in your own place is much more comfortable.

 

Go home, take the surgical cap off, heal up, and have a nurse remove the sutures. Easy enough as that is a basic skill of theirs.

[sl]

Leave but book a professional to remove them. Be aware than many doctors from my experience with patients have never seen anything like the length of suturing post hair transplant and some will refuse to do it through a lack of confidence and I've seen this time and again.

 

Poor removal will result in healing issues so it is vital to get someome who will be confident and get the clinic to also write a document as to how to remove the suture. Do your best to keep the closure clean and scab free so the doctor can see clearly what they need to do.

 

Cosmetic clinics per se should also be able to remove well but will do if for a price but it does beat spending two weeks in a hotel room or away from home.

[hairz]

hairz-

 

This is what I had done. I spoke to the local HT doctor here in Chicago--Dr. Konior--about going to his office to have my sutures removed. He accepted, removed them plus I had a chance to speak with him at length and he got to see Rahal's work.

 

Any nurse or personal doctor in your area will be able to easily remove your sutures if you do not want to do what I did.

 

Trust me, you are going to want to be home for those 14-days. You will go stir crazy in an unknown town needing to wear a surgical cap to go out. Healing in a familiar environment or holing up in your own place is much more comfortable.

 

Go home, take the surgical cap off, heal up, and have a nurse remove the sutures. Easy enough as that is a basic skill of theirs.

 

 

Wish I would of thought of this sooner (going to a local HT doctor) it may be to late.

[hairz]

Looks like I am staying the 14 days. It will cost $276 to change my plane flight as I bought it way ahead of time and whatever the fee is to take out sutures.

Edited March 9, 2013 by hairz

[Eman]

It's not too late to find a doctor or nurse who would be able to remove the sutures.

 

Staying at a hotel for two weeks, the cost of meals, plus the change in flight fee is not worth the additional expense and not recuperating at home.

 

Trust me, find someone local: general practitioner, plastic surgeon, other HT doc, or nurse. Setting up an appointment should be really easy (just say you need to have sutures removed from a HT) and you won't need to do it weeks in advance. They could probably take you in the next day.

 

It literally takes two minutes to remove them and most would be interested in seeing a HT in person.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

We do 40 "travellers" a year. Just about half stay 7 days and we remove the sutures. The other half go home. Most have no trouble getting sutures out by a local doctor, wife, ER. I posted recently about a UK guy who had real trouble with suture removal at a clinic...and how we were able to walk his wife through easily removing the remainder.

 

Putting sutures in requires some skill, taking them out "usually" shouldn't be a problem. I'd say if you can stay without undue cost and inconvenience, do so. If not, it should be easy enough to have them removed at home.

 

Now scar revisions...I think you ought to stay and let the doctor who put the sutures in take them out. If you scarred poorly the first time, do everything you can to make it better the second time.

 

Good luck

 

Dr. Lindsey

[GreatPelo]

It's always nice to see to see your HT doctor before leaving....but not essentially required. Any local doctor can remove sutures. You can do follow ups over Skype in order to keep track of your growth.

[beardywierdy]

I had mine taken out by a nurse in the UK and she missed 3 or 4, simply because the sutures were so fine and hard to see. I had to go back a few days later; all very embarrassing, as what was supposed to be a quick visit turned into a real hassle with a few people looking at my HT.

Best to ensure you get a written explanation from the clinc of how to take them out and ensure they wear magnifying loops

Beardy

[nativeremdies]

My opinion, is if you can stay then do it. The doc who put the sutures in will be the doc who takes them out. Keeps the accountability with the clinic

 

Of course scheduling with a local hair doc to do it is a brilliant idea as well. I wish I had factored that in.

[Shampoo]

Hello all, Do you think I should stay the full 14 days to have the doctor remove the sutures or leave the next day and have a doctor near me do it?

 

I wanted to get home...to my own home, my own bed, my own shower, my own fridge, ect...

 

There was no way I would have stayed 14 days in a hotel just for suture removal.

 

I stayed two nights post-op, saw the doc twice post-op, had the staff shampoo my hair twice post-op, and then I jetted home.

 

Before my surgery I asked a well respected local plastic surgeon if he could remove my sutures and he gladly accepted. He ended up not even charging me. Suture removal was a total 100% painless breeze.