Blepharoplasty - How Long for Suture Removal? (photo)

I remove eyelid sutures as early as 3 days, and certainly no more than 7-8 days. The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to get them removed, and increased risk of visible scar, though this risk is low in upper eyelid because it is well hidden.

Be assertive with the office staff of your surgeon.

In my practice I routinely removed sutures in 5 to 7 days. I would advise that you ask the doctor’s office to contact the doctor to confirm that 12 days would be an acceptable time. I would suspect that unless there was a clear indication for sutures to be removed this far out that the surgeon would prefer to have the sutures removed earlier. It is an option to consider having someone such as another physician or a nurse or related health professional who routinely performs this type of suture removal to perform this; however your physician should be kept aware of these activities.

I generally agree with my colleagues answers. I use only reabsorbable sutures in the eyelids so they don't need to be removed. However, I do trim any remaining suture fragments at 5-7 days. I hope that you will post followup and let us know how things worked out for you. I agree with the sentiment that you shouldn't remove your own sutures. Further, whenever a plastic surgeon leaves town we always line up someone to care for our patients. Hopefully that physician or nurse was made available to you. Stephen Weber MD, FACS