It is not uncommon for a surgical scar to hurt after an incision is healed. Scar tissue forms after surgery to heal a wound and can form internally or externally. This scar tissue can often cause pain due to a variety of reasons including an injury to the nerve.
You might feel sharp, shooting pains in your wound area. This may be a sign that you're getting sensations back in your nerves. The feeling should become less intense and happen less often over time, but check with your doctor if you're concerned.
We recommend paying close attention to your stitches in the days and weeks following surgery. Many people will recognize tell-tale signs of infection, including tenderness, red streaks, pain, swelling, warmth, and pus draining from the wound. These are all signs that your wound has become infected.
You can also hold an ice pack over your wound to reduce pain, swelling, and bruising. Place an ice pack on your wound for 15 to 20 minutes every hour or as told by your healthcare provider.
Any individual experiencing pain, swelling, redness, or pus around their stitches should see a doctor.
You may have scarring from your suturing or limited movement of the surrounding skin. This can be uncomfortable and feel like your skin is being pulled. A bulging scar is called a keloid. Keloids can be uncomfortable and itchy and may cause cosmetic concerns.
Wound healing is classically divided into 4 stages: (A) hemostasis, (B) inflammation, (C) proliferation, and (D) remodeling. Each stage is characterized by key molecular and cellular events and is coordinated by a host of secreted factors that are recognized and released by the cells of the wounding response.
Watch out for any signs of infection near or around the stitches, such as: swelling. increased redness around the wound. pus or bleeding from the wound.
A handful of studies have found that when wounds are kept moist and covered, blood vessels regenerate faster and the number of cells that cause inflammation drop more rapidly than they do in wounds allowed to air out. It is best to keep a wound moist and covered for at least five days.
This arises from damaged tissue. Signals are picked up by sensory receptors in nerve endings in the damaged tissue. The nerves transmit the signals to the spinal cord, and then to the brain where the signals are interpreted as pain, which is often described as aching or throbbing.
And not just when they go in, they can hurt for a few days afterward. It's because your immune system uses an inflammatory reaction to get rid of them. Inflammatory reactions cause pain! They also lead to increased scarring.
"Dissolvable stitches placed internally won't need to be removed," says Dr. Yaakovian. "They will break down and disappear on their own over time. As for permanent stitches placed on the outside of the skin, these are typically left in for about two weeks before being removed."
Red Area: In the initial stages, wounds appear red due to the natural healing process. But if the red area around the injured site continues to increase even after 4-5 days of an injury, it is a telltale sign of an infected wound..
Pain up to a certain threshold is normal. In case the pain gets unbearable, the scene can be alarming. It may be an indication of infection. Taking immediate remedial steps is necessary to avoid infection or any other side effects post the surgery.
In general, the greater the tension across a wound, the longer the sutures should remain in place. As a guide, on the face, sutures should be removed in 5-7 days; on the neck, 7 days; on the scalp, 10 days; on the trunk and upper extremities, 10-14 days; and on the lower extremities, 14-21 days.
Since all sutures are technically “foreign substances” the human body has a tendency to reject them. Ideally, this means the body breaks them down and dissolves them. Sometimes instead of dissolving the sutures, your body will push the suture out of your body. When it does this, we call it “spitting” a stitch.
Large or deep surgery incisions can take 6 to 8 weeks to heal. People with medical problems or prescribed certain medications may take longer.
In most cases, a surgical incision heals in about two weeks. More complex surgical incisions will take longer to heal. If you have other medical conditions or are taking certain medications, your healing time may differ.
In some cases an absorbable suture can be “spit out” if the body doesn't break it down. This happens when the stitch is gradually pushed out of the skin because the body is rejecting the material. Spitting sutures can feel like a sharp spot on the incision, and a small white thread may start emerging.
After 48 hours, surgical wounds can get wet without increasing the risk of infection. After this time, you can get your stitches wet briefly with a light spray (such as in the shower), but they should not be soaked (for example, in the bath).
You should be able to wash normally after your stitches, dressings and clips have been removed. It's usually better to have a shower until the wound has healed to avoid soaking it completely. Afterwards, pat your wound and the area around it dry.
Although it's natural to feel a little anxious if you're getting stitches, especially if you've just experienced trauma, the procedure is generally painless.