How long is too long to leave sutures in place?

I am sorry to hear you are in pain. Each patient's body is different and your doctor may have his/her reasoning for leaving the sutures in a bit longer. Chat with your doctor about your pain and discomfort. Your doctor wants your procedure to be successful and cares about your comfort. Good luck!

Great question and one that every patient asks. I will start by saying, all surgeons are different. Some leave sutures in 10 days, some 7, some 14. We know that the average is 7-10 and that there is little risk if leaving up to 14 days. The reason why (I am assuming) most people remove the sutures in the front at 7 days is (a) there is low tension on the wound and (b) we dont want to risk unpleasant scaring. Behind your ear is where alot of the tension on the skin is and we like to keep sutures there a bit longer. Obviously, this area is more hidden. You can think of it this way, the skin that is under the highest tension has the greatest risk of poor scarring. We often apply this tension to areas that we know we can hide so all the obvious scarring will look great. But dont get me wrong, the vast majority of scars look good all along the incision and I would be patient as you may be surprised.