I was drawn to your question by your hometown of Hays, KS, which is where I was born, raised, and schooled (up till medical school). And your question is a good one, but without a "set" or uniform answer, since every surgeon does things a bit differently.The idea behind skin tapes is to provide additional support to the skin closure, as well as to potentially improve scarring, so the best answer is to leave them in place as long as the adhesive is sticking to at least a portion of both sides of the incisions, and as long as there is no odor or drainage being "held in" by the tapes, which can obscure visualizing the incisions. That's the down-side, but wound infection is rare, especially with skilled and precise closure, meaning accurate skin approximation, fine suture material, gentle tissue handling, layered technique to reduce tension on the wounds.Which is another way of saying not all surgeons, or closures, are created equal, nor will tapes make up for a poor or sloppy closure.You should ask your surgeon (or his/her nurse) if they want any more tapes on the incisions after these fall off, especially if this is only a few days after placement. Most of my incisions are dry in a day or two, and I either use Benzoin (a liquid "glue" that enhances the adhesion of the tape adhesive) and steri-strips, or a see-through clear Tegaderm, so when I use tapes, I expect them to be in place at least a week or longer. If a wound is particularly bloody or draining fluid and the tapes become loose too soon, I generally want to see the wound anyway, and will often re-tape it for continued support (and now it's usually much more dry).I hope that helps, and explains a bit about the thought behind tapes in the first place! Best wishes! Dr. Tholen
