Stitches

can i remove my stitches by myself instead of coming back to urgent care to remove them?

i have 4 small stitches on my knee from when i split my knee open and i need to wait 10 days before removing the stitches..can i remove the stitches myself? or do i have to go back to the hospital and have the people do it there? the stitches are just like a string..not the metal kind..

Public Comments

1. you could remove them with a scissors and tweezers or have someone do it for you. best bet would just go in and get them out, it should be a no charge visit and would only take a few minutes. you would have less risk of an infection or complications that way.
2. against medical advise... Take alcohol and clean the wound first, Pull out the stitches with clean tweezers. Then clean the wound again with alcohol and put neo-sporen on it then bandage.
3. idk i would just go and get them done cause youre risking infections doing it yourself
4. Yeah, you can totally do it on your own. No need to go to the doc unless she/he told you otherwise. I once removed five stitches from my forehead. I made sure that the skin was healed and there wasn't a risk of infection, I cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol before and after, and it was totally fine. I just clipped them with sterilized nail clippers and they were easy to pull out.