# Reaction to suture line 15 days after surgery



## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

Photo 3 days after surgery


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

Photo 13 days after surgery


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

17 days after surgery and 4 days after first trip to the vet to try and let skin to expel suture, went to the vet same day we did another small puncture on the skin managed to pull a little bit more of suture and had to put a staple to ensure the incision wouldn't start reopening (skin is is still thin)


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

19 days after surgery staple from previous appointment looking fine seemed like was healing nicely again


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## Wicky (Aug 27, 2015)

Poor Ella- sorry I don't have any advice but just wanted to say hope the antibiotics work and her body can expell them without much more intervention x


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

20 days after seems to getting bad again so back to the vet and see it we can take more suture out.
As for Ella, well she couldn't be feeling better, seriously! No licking or itching, full of energy...

... and I'm travelling in 2days to go back home and can't cancel or delay


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## rooroch (Nov 7, 2012)

One of my bassets had a reaction to stitches after a cesarean. Puppies were about 2 days old when everything fell out of the wound when she stood up!! I pushed it all back in with lots of antiseptic solution and wrapped her in a sheet and returned to the vet. He had never seen that before and we restitched her up with old fashioned cat gut (not very pretty) just using a local anesthetic. She was so good. Never made a sound through the whole thing. All healed up well and she went on to have another (last) litter a year later with no problems.


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

Ok, so it's not uncommon it seems, I'm reading on the Labradors forum similar posts.

The vet already added the note on Ella's vet record so that when we leave Macau and take it it has all the precious info.
Hmmm rethinking if Ella will ever get hip surgery, after this not so sure if I feel comfortable


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

I personally always do this with internal stitches. It's not fun to be reopened...
I had a skin cancer removed on my face and right now I have been advised to massage as much as possible with vaseline. It's been about 2 weeks since I had the stitch start to present, 5 weeks since surgery- and last night I noticed I couldn't feel it anymore. So small circular motions, many times a day- vaseline- don't let it scab. Supposedly that's how to get it to break down and be taken away...for humans, anyway.


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

Just finished at the vet drinking the necessary beer at the beach.

She says it's healing but there's some suture inside, she said precisely for when to desinfect in the morning and at night to " squeeze" and massage it to break the suture and help the body expelling it.

Let's see how it goes she'll check up on Ella Sunday and if needed she'll take Ella Monday morning to the clinic. Ella will love it, she thinks it's a cool place to hang out the entire day


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## Amystelter (Jul 31, 2013)

Lucy's wound opened and prior to surgery she had a mild rash/infection but the vet went ahead with it. She opened it right after the surgery so I had to take her back. She glued it back shut and we continued with antibiotics. All was well in time. BTW it looked way worse that that. Keep her on the antibiotics and I'll bet it clears.


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## Max209 (Mar 25, 2016)

"Internal sutures", "dissolvable sutures", "absorbable sutures" are all different terms referring to sutures that are left inside to dissolve and don't need to be taken out. They are typically used to hold the deeper layers together, but are sometimes used on the skin too with what is called a "subcuticular stitch" which just means the sutures are inside and not exposed to the air where they would dry out and shrivel up but never completely go away. Different suture materials of the absorbable type last for varying amounts of time and although they are typically designed to be "inert" or not cause allergic and inflammatory reactions - it does happen on occasion. It can take several weeks to several months to fully heal. Not much you can do except keep it clean, watch it carefully to make sure an infection is not starting and spreading, and try to keep your dog from licking, biting, and scratching it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_suture


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suture_materials_comparison_chart


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

So updates on this:

We went away for one week like I said previously and the vet kept coming to the house everyday to check up on little princess sutures, when we got back all looked getting back to normal but all of a sudden when the skin sutures were already all out the ones on the muscle started doing the same reaction, total panic belly swollen hard like a golf ball. We did another round of anti-inflammatory and golden paste in the morning and at night and now finally all seems to be back to normal. Scar is not yet completely gone but I think our vet will have a nice surprise in a couple of months once the scar completely disappears, she was so proud of how well the surgery had gone and that it would not leave any mark and then besides the worry of the problems she said oh she was going to have such a nice belly it will never look like she had any surgery....

I'm sure it won't like she did because despite all the complications it's almost gone now


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

I have seen it before on some of the rescue's dogs. Normally putting a warm moist compress on it a couple of times a day helps to reduce the reaction. I have never had a vet open the wound and remove sutures to deal with it, they have all cleared up over a couple of months with antibiotics and compresses.

I'm glad she's finally doing well and this is healing!


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