Spit a stitch, but can't find it. Will peroxide help heal it? (Photo)

The key to treating this is to remove the "spitting" suture from the wound.  Once the foreign body is gone, the little area usually heals right up, with a little triple antibiotic ointment applied twice daily.Peroxide is not needed, and actually is too harsh for most wounds and slows down healing.

Dear whomeI often emphasize (to my patients) that peroxide is bad for your skin and wound healing. It often leads to a dry skin wound complex and delays epithelial in-growth. It is effective in grossly contaminated wounds. I recommend soap and water for washing open wounds that are clean; baby soap is generally a good choice as it usually does not burn. You can follow that with topical antibiotic ointment to keep a moist wound with low bacterial count. Then cover with dressing. This often leads to faster wound healing.Having said that, I would suggest before changing any plan of care, discuss the issue with your surgeon.Afshin Parhiscar MD FACS

I typically advise my patients to wash the wound with soap and water and cover with a small piece of gauze or bandaid. No need to overdo with the peroxide because that kills all cell types, even healthy cells trying to heal the wound. Of course, always best to follow with your operating surgeon's recommendations. Good luck!

Peroxide is great for killing bacteria and often time there are bacteria present with a "stitch abscess" of the type you had. Now that the stitch is out, the bacteria count will be much lower and peroxide isn't needed. I would expect a small amount of clear drainage which can be cared for with a bandaid but soap and water in the shower is all you should need to do to care for this area. It will heal over the next couple weeks.

I don't like using peroxide on open wounds. Although it is very effective at killing bad bacteria, it slows down the healing of the wound due to extreme drying and killing healthy healing cells.  I advise my patients to wash the area with soap/water in the shower and to keep it covered with a tiny dab of bacitracin for moist wound healing. I also find that a large number of patients develop allergic reactions to neosporin, so I prefer bacitracin. Best of luck to you!

Peroxide is a potent cytotoxin and is very effective for disruption of cell membranes.  Application will kill not only bacteria, but also the new skin cells trying to heal the wound.  Therefore, use of peroxide is most helpful in heavily contaminated wounds.  However, If you dilute the peroxide with 3 parts saline to 1 part peroxide, it will maintain its cytotoxic effects on bacteria, while sparing the new skin cells.  I generally recommend use of mild soap and water with application of antibiotic ointment with each cleansing.   

Although the peroxide can help prevent infections by killing bacteria, it can be somewhat harsh/drying to open wounds.  If the peroxide irritates your skin ask your doctor if you can dilute it by one half to one quarter strength.  A mild soap and water is a reasonable alternative.  If the sutures are spitting they are probably dissolving and this may explain why your nurse couldn't find them.  But don't worry this type of problem usually will resolve over the next few weeks as long as you keep the areas clean.