Stitches

[circumcised] removing the stitches?

i heard i should remove the stitches about 1 week and a half after circumcision or it could leave holes. their dissolvable but not dissolving fast enough. its still swollen. should i remove them??

Public Comments

1. i dont know do you want holes in your pinto?
2. I would leave them alone , at least until the swelling goes down. They will not leave holes. I promise. Try soaking in the tub each day. That might speed things along.
3. If all you have is minor swelling and you are more than 7 to 10 days past surgery - you can remove as long as you do not fell pain as you an erection in the evening or morning when you wake up. If you have pain let them dissolve. If you have no pain and no redness then take a pair of tweezers and remove the visible portion of the cat gut stitches. I would put some antibiotic ointment on the foreskin when you remove them and avoid sex for at least two weeks. You should also be very gentile doing masturbation. Otherwise you have made a very wise health decision in having a circumcision. As you are aware, it has been found scientifically that a man who is not circumcised has a great potential for VDs, HIV and cancer of the penis. Go ahead with your decision and enjoy life
4. no don't remove them. you might still need them. soak in the bath 2 x a day (maybe with a small amount of salt). any loose stitches you can 'tease' out gently but don't force them. they will all loosen up and be out very soon, hang on. don't worry about skin tunnels yet.
5. The stitches (sutures in medical parlance) will have done their job in 7-10 days after the circumcision and can then safely be removed. Although the sutures are described as dissolvable it is still desirable to directly remove them. Firstly, they do NOT dissolve in ordinary water (as in the bath), so soaking has no effect on their removal (although it can greatly increase your comfort and promote healing). The sutures are dissolved by enzymes brought to them in your blood and plasma supply. When they are used where they were originally designed for (deep inside the body) the supply of enzymes is plentiful and they dissolve easily. On the surface they are inclined to take much longer to dissolve and thus may leave 'tunnels' as the skin heals around them. Removing the sutures will also speed up the reduction in swelling since the body treats them as 'foreign material' and pumps fluids towards them to remove them. This is one reason why your penis will be so swollen. To remove the sutures, lightly sterilise a pair of tweezers and a fine pointed pair of scissors in antiseptic solution. Grasp the knot of a suture and cut one site of it just below the knot. Pull the suture out. Do not be surprised or alarmed if there are a few drops of blood - this is good and normal and indicates that the sides of the hole can join together to close it. A lot of bleeding is a different matter and you should stop. Initially remove alternate sutures, watching to see that the cut edges of the circumcision do not pull apart. If they do then again stop what you are doing and wait another few days. The open spot will heal a bit more slowly, but is not a cause for concern. Provided all is well when you have removed alternate sutures, continue to remove the rest. Protect the area for a couple of days with a light wrap of gauze until the 'holes' have sealed themselves. If you don't feel comfortable removing the sutures yourself, get a partner or friend to do it for you (parent if you are still a teen); or you could get the practice nurse at your doctor's office to do the job.