Open suture!!! Medical types PLEASE read!!!

[TxArcher 2]

Hey, While I was toweling off this morning after my shower, the towel snagged one of the ends of my small incision lines. I was closed up with that rubbery glue stuff.

Fast forward to about 20 minutes ago... I looked at the incision and it was just a little red looking. I touched the scab area and it seemed to "float/slide" around. Upon further investigation, I noticed that the scab had indeed been lifted up. There was just a tad bit of pus underneath the scab, and a little hole. Well, I figured the scab would never adhere, so I removed it. This left just a very small diameter hole. Kinda like this ----------0 I cleaned it out with alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and then opened a new tube of super glue (I close all my cuts and wounds with the stuff, it works great) and let it set up. I am going to watch it tonight and if it flares up at all I think I will get some medical attention.

It seems to be staying closed for now.

[Daisalana 33]

You can buy steri-strips at Walgreens or any other drug store.

One of my steri-strips came off prematurely, so I bought some and my doc told me to just put them on (I called them to ask.. do the same! )

[S@ssen@ch 745]

No offense to Laura, but I wouldn't bother with the steri-strips. You are more than 7 days post-op. By closing a wound that age, you are inviting infection. If it is as small as you lead me to believe (maybe half a centimeter or less) I'd just keep it clean and dry. If it gets really red and has drainage coming out of it (not just a little moisture at the wound site. I'm talking yellow or green pus that would come off onto gauze). I'd let my doctor know.

Unfortunately, you're probably going to have a larger scar than you anticipated.

[TxArcher 2]

I don't care about scars. I just didn't know what I should have done. I guess closing it up with super glue may have not been the best option, but it is done now!

So far, so good. I will keep an eye on it for the next couple of days... I hope I cleaned it well enough:omg:

[TxArcher 2]

No offense to Laura, but I wouldn't bother with the steri-strips. You are more than 7 days post-op. By closing a wound that age, you are inviting infection. If it is as small as you lead me to believe (maybe half a centimeter or less) I'd just keep it clean and dry. If it gets really red and has drainage coming out of it (not just a little moisture at the wound site. I'm talking yellow or green pus that would come off onto gauze). I'd let my doctor know.

Unfortunately, you're probably going to have a larger scar than you anticipated.

Actually, about 1/16". I guess I kinda freaked out when I saw a suture site opened up!

[S@ssen@ch 745]

That doesn't sound TOO bad, but I'm sure it was kind of scary when it happened. But again, if you have ANY and I mean ANY signs that it's getting infected I'd call my doctor right away. Redness, swelling, bloody or puss-like drainage. If you develop a fever, that's another sign. Since you have it closed, it could be infected under the skin. So just keep it clean and dry, be very alert to any changes.

More than likely, there won't be any problems but it's good to be aware and alert. Good Luck.

[TxArcher 2]

That doesn't sound TOO bad, but I'm sure it was kind of scary when it happened. But again, if you have ANY and I mean ANY signs that it's getting infected I'd call my doctor right away. Redness, swelling, bloody or puss-like drainage. If you develop a fever, that's another sign. Since you have it closed, it could be infected under the skin. So just keep it clean and dry, be very alert to any changes.

More than likely, there won't be any problems but it's good to be aware and alert. Good Luck.

yeah, I have not seen any changes in it at all. I poured about a capfull of alcohol and another of hydrogen peroxide each. That alcohol smarts a bit! After it dried off, the glue was applied. I suppose the wound is clean and closed. I will still keep an eye on it though.

Thanks for the replies!

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Super glue?

If you found pus in the wound and you glued it closed, you closed it with bacteria in there. It's a great way to get an infection.

Alcohol does not sanitize, it cleans. It only does serious cleaning if you soak something in alcohol for 24 hours. It does not kill bacteria nearly the way people think it does.

Peroxide won't do a lot either. That's usually mostly to get dirt and such that is stuck in there. It isn't going to kill off anything except for newly growing tissue. In a hospital setting if there is a need to use peroxide on a healing wound we cut it 50/50 with saline.

As you wrote, there isn't a great deal that can be done now with super glue.