Stitches never dissolved

 Hello, I want to share something that happened to me because it may help some folks.  I had my abdominoplasty 5 yrs ago.  Two years later, I started having  horrible open wounds in my abdomen, along the scarline.  They would bleed and have pus inside, burst open, not heal up very well, they stayed open for months at times.  (continually bursting, bleeding, pus, swelling).  I went to the plastic surgeon who did my surgery and he said he did not know what it was.  He suggested I see my family doctor and tested me for MRSA (I didn't have MRSA).  

My family doctor immediately sent me to an older general surgeon who had seen this type of thing before.  He said it was very uncommon, not rare...  just uncommon.  The stitches that my plastic surgeon used were a combination of smooth and braided.  Somehow, there must have been some infection or problem that caused bacteria to get into the folds of the braided stitches.  They never dissolved.  I had 4 (strategically placed) in my abdomen.  Fortunatley, one stitch worked its way out last year and it healed up.  Haven't had problems since with that location. 

But, two others kept bursting open (one had a knot, but never came to surface).  I have a new plastic surgeon and he went in and opened up those 3 areas to find the stitches and remove them.  

This was not caused by anything that anyone did.  It was just one of those things...  so if you have this problem, you may very well need to find a plastic surgeon who will open up those areas and get the stitches out.  You will heal up...  

I did this for 3 yrs.  Pus, blood, swelling, I have 6 pair of black stretch pants I call "big waisted pants" because when I had flare ups, I had to have roomy pants or else it hurt.  Once, I had to wear a size 10 pants for a week or so because my size 6 belly had such a huge bulge.  When it burst, about a half cup of pus/blood was drained from it!

Hope this helps someone.

Wow. Thanks for posting this. I have a few stray stitches here an there, and never thought about them causing problems. I have one from a tubal in 1993 that I can feel in my belly button. Guess that one will come out when I have my TT in June. I had no clue that old stitches could cause such problems. Glad you are better now.

 Thank you so much for posting.  It is wonderful to know about these uncommon responses so that we can recognize anything similar in ourselves.  Cheers!

Good reminder.  When I had my necrotic open wound after the fleur de lis abdominoplasty - there were several stitches that were visible.  I am a RN and my plastic surgeon told me to remove them when they were visible and I did.

I did have an issue up around my new belly button and I removed those stitches (they were black, blue, or purple) when they became visible.

I know those I removed won't bother me and just keep my fingers crossed that I won't have that issue that you did.

Thanks for sharing.  Blessings, Penny

Wow.  Thanks for posting.  What's the difference between smooth and braided stitches?

The braided have many intwined strands, and smoth ones aren't braided.  From what I have been told, on people who have lost a lot of weight, the braided stitches can help produce a better result and hold better or something like that...  Normally they dont cause problems, but wouldn't you know it that i was that very small percentage!  I had asked questions on a plastic surgery forum and some doctors debated whether thats what it truly was.  Some said that they had been in practice for years and done hundreds of surgeries and had never seen it.  Other doctors said that they had patients who had the same thing, and always, when going in to remove the stitches, cleared it up.

I'm doing pretty good so far.  

Gosh, that's just amazing.  Would your recommend I talk to my perspective surgeon about avoiding braided stitches?  Thanks again for your help.

Your post made me cry tears of joy. It re affirms that I'm not crazy.. .. I had the rout en y surgery back in 2005-2006. I started having problems about 7 years ago, first stitch was removed in the ER. 3 years ago I noticed a huge lump at the incision line, along with another was classified as a abcess, and had never closed, it leaks ooozes pots and blood and I pull a bit of stitch but it never closes. In Jan I had another abcess form around the incision and pulled three parts of another stitch. I am so tired of being in pain. The stitches and stomach hurt so bad. No insurance no real job to pay for assistance. Finally found a general surgeon who confirmed 6 pockets of fluid and believes they are stitches, wants 25,000 to remove them, and 12,500 down before they will remove them. I hope you will see this and contact me. Thanks