# Vet left suture in



## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

As many of you probably know, Soro went in to have a number of lumps removed a few weeks ago. Recovery went without a hitch and he went in to the vets to have his sutures removed ~10 days after the surgery.

There was this one spot that felt a tiny bit hard so I thought it was a scab and didn't think much of it. It wasn't till a couple days ago that I realized it was unusual for a scab to be there for so long. So I parted the fur and looked closer... It looks like a piece of the suture thread is still in there. 

I used some tweezers and pulled as hard as I could, pretty darn hard. It didn't seem to hurt Soro until I was pulling for a while and even then it was more of a 'hey! what are you doing back there!' head turn than a painful yelp or anything. It didn't budge, as if it was grown into the skin. Soro does not seem bothered by it in the slightest and has not worried the site at all.










1. Is this harmful? ie, should it be left in... forever?
2. How could the vets get it out?

Understandably I should consult my vet, which I will do tomorrow when they are open tomorrow. I don't know if it is common for little suture bits to be left in, if it's not a big deal, or if this was a very messy job on their part.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

I think how they get it out would depend on what part of the stitch was left/how it is anchored.

My former foster Alma was spayed at the shelter and I got her maybe 2 months after that and after a few days with me, I noticed some bumps--- yep, NONE of her stitches had been removed. No irritation or infection from them though and the vet got them out easily enough even after probably close to 3 months in place. 

I think leaving a little bit of a suture is quite possible (obviously the shelter never removing any of them isn't the same thing) as his fur is fairly thick and if there is a bit of swelling, it can kind of tuck a stitch into the skin visually.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

It may be a dissolvable suture. They take a while to dissolve, and, IME, the knots can take even longer and tend to stick through the skin. Cut off what you can and the rest ought to work itself out.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Thanks for both your replies!



Willowy said:


> It may be a dissolvable suture. They take a while to dissolve, and, IME, the knots can take even longer and tend to stick through the skin. Cut off what you can and the rest ought to work itself out.


Will ask the vet tomorrow. They mostly used staples and I was unaware there were any sutures at all, so you can be right.


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## shihtzu.lover (Dec 31, 2014)

Looks like dissovable to me reason i say this is feb last year i had surgery and though meant to dissolve themselves i kept getting them coming out themselves! i had to go back a few times till all out. it was annoying. but yeah it can happen


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## Hiraeth (Aug 4, 2015)

Willowy said:


> It may be a dissolvable suture. They take a while to dissolve, and, IME, the knots can take even longer and tend to stick through the skin. Cut off what you can and the rest ought to work itself out.


This was my thought, as well. I had a very large area of my shoulder biopsied about 4 years ago and the stitches never fully dissolved. The last chunk I pulled out of my shoulder was about 6 months ago, so 3.5 years after the procedure was done.

The suture is white, right? Generally sutures that are blue, black or violet and are not dissolvable and sutures that are white are dissolvable.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Thanks again for your input everyone! I called the vets this morning and they are indeed dissolvable sutures. I just clipped the tip off and the rest inside his skin should go away on their own. 
Whew


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