petunia

i posted this in the breast reduction message boards but i see this message board is a bit more hoping so i thought i'd ask here.

what in the heck is a "spitting stitch" anyway? when do i need to start looking for these and are they any major danger?

thanks!

desperatehousewife

Hey Petunia (the flower?) sometimes stitches just work themselves to the surface and the ends will pop out, leaving a red spot that ends up looking like a pimple would. Once the stitch is out it will heal fast on it's own but as long as it's in there it will have the symptoms. These can hurt but unless they're infected they aren't really serious. If you have one your plastic surgeon can usually just take a pair of tweezers and pull it out. Nothing to worry about but if the surrounding skin gets severely infected it's possible it could scar up the skin near that area of the incision. Hope this helps.

kellybubbles

these are actually pretty common - i had some from a surgery and the doctors just had to pull them out with tweezers. i guess it's just the stitch going under the skin and getting caught in the wrong place or something. something else to watch out for is stitches surfacing months after surgery. sometimes little pieces of the thread fall off under the skin and they start working their way to the surface months or even a year later. these are REALLY annoying because you can feel them in there but they're hard to get out. either way they're not serious so nothing to fret about. just make sure your doctor keeps an eye out for them.

waterlily

I had spitting stitches when my stomach as operated on a few years back. One of them got infected and it turned into an area the size of a quarter that was oozing discharge until my doctors finally agreed to give it attention and treat it. Everything healed fine and there was no real health risk but because of it I have a piece of hard scar tissue the size of a quarter that has interestingly it killed off all the hair follicles there. I guess since it turned into an open wound eating the flesh that would explain why the new skin is all scar tissue and has no hair. Anyway just make sure your doctors take it seriously because with me at least I had so much going on they didn't care about this issue because they thought it wasn't a big deal until it turned into one.

GAURAV

Sometimes stitches will work themselves to the surface, or the ends of a stitch will pop out. This will sometimes manifest itself as a red spot that peaks in the way a blemish would, and then once it's out it will heal. It can be painful, but it's typically not serious. When the stitch pops out it can look like a piece of soft white rice. If it's not infected, the spot will heal quickly once it's out. Your plastic surgeon can help you with this. If you see your plastic surgeon for a spit stitch, ask him if there is anything you can do for yourself if it happens again, or if he would like you to make a return appointment in the event of a new spot.