Suture removal in UK

[Baldietwo]

I had my HTt with Bisanga last week and in another week and a half I'm due to have my sutures removed.

 

I'm going to ask the local GP or nurse to do it but I've read on this board that some GPs and nurses refuse to do it. The excuse is either that the HT was done abroad or they are simply not confident of removing such a long suture.

 

With that in mind I need to have a backup plan. If the local GP/nurse refuses where can I have the sutures removed in the UK?

[Spanker]

You may have Dr. Bisanga's rep call Dr. Farjo's clinic. Many network doctor's will remove each other's sutures out of professional courtesy. Hope this helps.

[gillenator]

Suture removal is easy to do and takes hardly any time. So just about any nursing professional can do it.

 

Staple removal can be tricky and the proper tool is a must.

[Baldietwo]

Had my sutures out today. Not straight forward, but not too bad either.

 

When I booked the appointment with my surgery I told them that the suture was about 30cm long and that I would likely require 2 or 3 of their routine 10 minutes appointments.

The receptionist declined and said that the nurse will have no problems doing it in 10 minutes. Ok....they know best!

 

When I arrived this morning the nurse was very helpful. Although she did ask why I didn't have it done by the HT Doctor. When I explained that I didn't want to take a day off, pay for travel to Brussles, she was ok.

 

She was very fascinated with the suture! However, she had to stop after 10 minutes since the queue was big. I did explain to her that I asked for more time when I booked it and she said "we get this all the time, sometimes I wish they listen to the patients more!" She managed to book me in with another nurse later same day using their spare emergency appointments...hope I didn't prevent someone really ill from having an appointment

 

I returned in the afternoon and this nurse was equally fascinated! She asked a lot of questions, said that the suture was "beautifully done" and she'd never seen anything this long on the scalp. She also asked questions about the procedure, the maintenance of the recipient and donor area etc.

 

She did say that I was healing remarkably well so I guess that is a good sign. She also said that my body has started to reject the sutures already! In some areas they had been pushed outside of the skin!

 

I noticed this myself as I'm keeping a detailed track of the progress. I've attached two pictures of the same suture area. 1st picture is from 12th day and you can see the suture through the skin. The 2nd picture is from today (day 14) and the suture has almost made it through the skin!!

 

It took 30 minutes all in all (10 with the first, and 20 with the second nurse). At the end she had one adive to Dr Bisanga:

 

Please use a different colour suture! Dark blue was impossible to see against my hair

 

When I got back i used my clever microscope to check she got it all out...She hadn't! 3 stitches was left! No biggie, I sterilized my tweezers and the donor area and pulled them out. She had already cut it so they came out with no problems...

 

So when you have your sutures out, make sure they get every single one out!!

[gillenator]

Glad to hear everything went well as I thought it would.

 

Did the nurse by chance spray some water or saline to the area before pulling the thread through?

 

Now the best is yet to come, the regrowth!

[Baldietwo]

I think she used some wet pads. I also soaked my head beforehand to loosen the skin a bit. And I sprayed saline before and after. Just in case. I think I'm covered

[alix]

you could have asked Bisanga or his rep if they knew a cosmetic clinic here in the UK where you could go for removing sutures..

I had my HT with Feriduni recently and didn't want to go to my own GP (as I'm sure they haven't seen something like this and will be asking questions,etc which I'm not comfortable with.)

Feriduni referred me to a a cosmetic clinic in the UK,and they agreed to do it for a (small) fee.

having ht sutures removed by any cosmetic surgery clinic beats going to GP,at least they have seen it many time before and are comfortable doing it professionally without asking too many questions & leaving the job incomplete.

[Baldietwo]

I'm sure they would have recommended something, but that would mean taking time off work to travel to wherever that clinic is.

 

Although the nurses were fascinated by it they had seen similar, equally long sutures on other body parts. But never the scalp. They did miss 3 stitches, but they said the suture was very thin and hard to see due to the my hair. Dark blue sutures against dark hair is not a good combination.

 

The nurses are trained to remove sutures, it's part of their job. They were very careful when pulling them out and there was very little pain apart from one or two which were slightly covered with scab.

 

My worry was whether they would actually do it, since it was a private procedure. I'm wasn't doubting their capabilities.

 

I also didn't mind sharing my story and answering the questions. They were not judgemental but genuinely interested. I think they had a chat about it at lunch time because the 2nd nurse knew everything I told the 1st nurse