I had upper and lower blepharoplasty, and the surgeon did not remove the sutures for 11 days. By this time, my skin was having a severe reaction to the sutures and my recovery was quite delayed from the amount of time in sutures. I had the feeling that I was moved from 5 days to 11 days because of the surgeon's busy schedule. It felt excessive. My question is, is it considered good practice to keep a patient in sutures for this long ? Is there increased risk of permanent scarring ?
June 25, 2017
Answer: Unless your surgeon used a laser to make the skin incision, yes, this is too long. Surgeon inconvience is absolutely not an excuse for not removing sutures in a timely manner. Taking the sutures out at 11 days will probably not cause long term problems. Occasionally one will see milia or suture cysts but that can occur even when sutures are removed earlier. I do see an increasing trend for surgeons to place absorbable sutures in the skin with the mistaken impression that these will simply dissolve and the surgeon won't need to remove the suture. That is far from reality. While there are sutures that absorb very quickly, they do not always do so. Many of these sutures simply don't breakdown on their own and need to be removed at 5-6 days. Thank you for posting here so others recognize that it is not ideal to leave sutures beyond this time frame.
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
June 25, 2017
Answer: Unless your surgeon used a laser to make the skin incision, yes, this is too long. Surgeon inconvience is absolutely not an excuse for not removing sutures in a timely manner. Taking the sutures out at 11 days will probably not cause long term problems. Occasionally one will see milia or suture cysts but that can occur even when sutures are removed earlier. I do see an increasing trend for surgeons to place absorbable sutures in the skin with the mistaken impression that these will simply dissolve and the surgeon won't need to remove the suture. That is far from reality. While there are sutures that absorb very quickly, they do not always do so. Many of these sutures simply don't breakdown on their own and need to be removed at 5-6 days. Thank you for posting here so others recognize that it is not ideal to leave sutures beyond this time frame.
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
June 27, 2017
Answer: Suture Removal after Blepharoplasty Thank you for your question. Typically, I remove sutures after blepharoplasty anywhere from 6-9 days after the surgery. I don't believe leaving them in longer in your case with jeopardize your final result. Best of luck, Dr. Heffernan
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
June 27, 2017
Answer: Suture Removal after Blepharoplasty Thank you for your question. Typically, I remove sutures after blepharoplasty anywhere from 6-9 days after the surgery. I don't believe leaving them in longer in your case with jeopardize your final result. Best of luck, Dr. Heffernan
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
