Suture

In medicine, sutures are "materials used in closing a surgical or traumatic wound." They may be made of treated natural material, synthetic plastic, or wire, and come in a variety of thicknesses, attached or nonattached needles, and other mechanical forms.

Especially for use inside wounds, sutures may be nonabsorbable and permanent, or absorbable and indended to be replaced by healthy issues. In some procedures, it eventually may be part of the plan to remove nonabsorbable sutures.

Sutures, traditionally, have been thread-like and applied with a needle and sewing technique. Some suture materials, however, are used to form a constricting loop (e.g., to close off a blood vessel or surgical stump), either simply knotted or sewn with a "purse-string" technique that allows them to tightened.

Especially with microsurgical and endoscopic procedures, mechanical clips, often requiring special tools to apply, have replaced traditional sutures.

Roles in medicine

Simple skin lacerations

Tissue adhesive may be better than sutures for simple skin lacerations.

Also, in some case where the skin is not under tension, various kinds of natural or sythetic fiber strips can be used to approximate and repair the edges. An early type was the "butterfly", essentially a modified strip of adhesive tape with notches cut in the center where the strip would go over the broken skin; the narrow wound covering, on commercial butterfly strips, has no adhesive. A later type of external wound closure is a sterile strip of tape, witb a gentle and biodegradable adhesive. As the wound heals, these strips fall away.

Complications

Infection

Infections may be reduced by topical chloramphenicol. Getting sutures wet does not increase infections.