In a patient who has normally undergone surgery, as a rule, the worst is left behind. And for a complete restoration of strength and efficiency, the patient now needs to follow the recommendations of doctors and monitor the condition of his wounds and sutures.
We will talk about how to care for stitches after the operation (upon returning home) in today's article.
What is needed for the seam to heal well
It all depends on where the seam is. The larger the area that it occupies, the more serious the operation, the correspondingly, more time will be spent on healing.
Before processing the seams after the operation, get the necessary tools at hand:
- hydrogen peroxide ;
- Zelenka (iodine overdries the wound);
- gauze napkins, cotton pads or sticks;
- sterile dressings (if you removed the dressing from the suture in the hospital, then you do not need this item).
How and how to process stitches after surgery
Seam processing should be done several times a day, it is especially important to perform this procedure after a shower. You can wash in a week (of course, you need to check with your doctor), sometimes you can take a shower just a day after the operation. The main thing is not to touch the seam with a washcloth so as not to damage the slightly healed scar.
And now consider the process itself: you need to get the scar wet with a gauze cloth abundantly moistened in hydrogen peroxide and wait until the skin dries. Then a green brush is applied to the seam using a cotton swab.
If this is necessary, then at the end of the procedure a sterile dressing is applied. It is needed to prevent infection from entering the wound, however, the healing time is somewhat delayed, since the suture may get wet under the bandage.
In difficult cases, as well as if the wound begins to ooze, the patient is obliged to go daily to dressings in the clinic or hospital. Under such conditions, the risk of infection or injury to the wound is minimized.
What to do if the seam is inflamed
If inflamed areas are found, they must be carefully wiped with medical alcohol diluted to 40 degrees. Do not lubricate the seam completely (to prevent drying out). If the inflammation appears again, it is urgent to consult a doctor who will tell you how to process the stitches.
After surgery, scars form on the scar. They need to be removed, as this can lead to a thickening of the seam line, which will make it even more noticeable.
After the threads are removed, the seam needs to be processed as before for several more days (the term will be specified by the doctor) until everything is completely healed.
What does the suture look like after surgery
The scar remaining after surgery looks different. It all depends on how and with what it was sewn up, as well as on the individual biological characteristics of the patient's body.
The seam gets its final form , as a rule, in a year, or even in two. Dates also vary depending on the part of the body on which the operation was performed. The most active scar tissue in the first weeks after surgery: at this time it is usually red and hard. Then a gradual softening occurs, and the seam turns pale. Some traces (we are talking about plastic surgery) after three months are almost invisible.
Knowing how and what to process the stitches after surgery, you can minimize all external manifestations of surgical intervention. Be healthy!