Question:
Has anyone been allergic to the sutures?

My doctor says I am allergic to the internal sutures he used to stitch up the inside. I had no stitches on the outside. I keep getting little abcesses and sometimes a stitch will come out. Looks like clear fishing line. Anyway, I half joking asked if he could cut me open and fix the problem. He said he could but then there would be more scarring cause stitches would be on the outside. I don't know how much longer I can take this. The little places that start to abcess feel like I have lit a match, blew it out and touched it to that particular area. Any suggestions welcome...By the way, would insurance cover this if he has to fix it, am I liable to pay or would he just fix it along with the touch ups needed? HELP!!    — Cinna G. (posted on April 22, 2003)

April 22, 2003
When my daughter was just 24 hours old she had to have an abdominal tumor removed. Afterward for the next 2 months, she had the same exact problem you are having. The sutures worked their way to the surface and when the abscess burst, the fishing line suture would pop out. We applied very cold neosporin to the spots which seemed to calm her down. At 24 hrs she couldn't tell us if they were burning :-) The surgeon did re-open one area in attempt to take out 2 sutures which were jammed together and she has a nasty scar there. She is 17 now and we are fighting to have her scar revised. The area they left alone has a scar 3"long and is like a fine line, the area they opened up is also about 3" long and is badly scarred and now has adhesions. You have to make your own decision, but I agree with your Doc, eventually you will run out of stitches to pop out (ask him how many stitch knots are there) and there is increased risk of a nasty scar if he goes back in. Good Luck!
   — M B.

April 22, 2003
I had a reaction to what ever they closed me up with, mostly just red itchy and swolen. I used a steroid cream throughout the day for a few weeks and it helped a lot.
   — Carol S.

April 22, 2003
I am seven weeks out and know what you are going through. I have been using A&D ointment and that has really helped. You are lucky to have the 'fishing line' thread mine is white and remindes me of twine. My scar is now speckeled with white spots where the stiches are. I still cannot wear any pants that have a button on them. My doctor told me they should go away when the stiches desolved. He also told me that the ones that pop through to just pull out. Hope you find something soon.
   — Marcy S.

April 23, 2003
My incision drained and was open for 4 mos on my first surgery. The second time (when I was transected after staple line disruption) I didn't have any problems but when I poked this long q tip in to keep the incision open so it could heal from the inside out, these little bright turquoise pieces of plastic kept coming out of my incision. They were really small but because of the color, I noticed them. I kept a bunch of them and showed them to my surgeon who said "I have no idea what those are!" They caused no problem but when they quit coming out, I healed quickly. These apparently were sutures that came loose. I later developed a hernia which was repaired when I had the second surgery. Now, I have a double hernia! I must be hernia prone. By the way, the little blue plastic pieces were about 1/16th of in inch in length and all were uniform in size, texture and color.
   — Mylou52