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my knee after surgery and day staples were removed

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sykeRN

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Hi everyone--here's a couple of my early knee photos. Now my scar is looking good--need to take a photo soon.
 

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Boy they must do an excellent job sewing you knees up. I can't imagine how the stiches don't break loose all the time.
judy
 
Well, it's the stitches under the skin stitches that really hold it all together. The skin stitches are really almost just cosmetic.

Looks good, Nancy!
 
I really think it looks good Im happy you are doing well Nancy !!!!!!! I agree sometimes when I was at PT I was so scared but yeah they dont come apart easily at all.......)
 
Nice neat scar, Nancy.....a real beauty!!! Glad you posted the photos.
 
Actually it looks like staples, not stitches. I had staples too...30 of them in each knee. The left scar was a couple of inches longer though.

Do they stitch under the staples? Just wondering because I had a few staples that were cockeye and when remove caused gaps. Had to go back to OS to have a quick repair job. Thought they would suture the 1" opening that was quite a gap, but just put the glue and steri-strips on. Now looks like I have a sunken area under the larger one. Hoping I won't have a huge dimple there. The knee cap itself looks like a Klingone Skull. :hehe: Gonna take a lot of scar therapy to improve this baby!

Nancy, I must say your knee looks much better without the staples. The swelling has gone down quite a bit and looks like it will heal nicely. Best wishes!
 
Rose, don't worry about your scar. I had some uneven areas and bumps in mine and it all has leveled out just fine. It just takes some time.
 
I'm going to take a picture of my knee at six weeks to post--wow does it look good now--mostly just a thin line--even I'm impressed. Although I'm one that could care less about the scar--my new knee is awesome--I can't believe it feels so good----to be with out pain and not limp is priceless--I am so grateful!
 
Do they stitch under the staples? Just wondering because I had a few staples that were cockeye and when remove caused gaps.

I did a post a while back explaining (for those who want to know) how wounds are closed. Let's see if I can reproduce it.

Wounds are closed in 'layers'
each with several stitches meaning
1. the joint capsule is closed then
2. the muscle
3.
the fascia - which is a white, fibrous outside layer of the muscle
4. the fat
5. the subdermal layer of the skin - meaning the 2-3mm immediately below the skin
6. the outside skin

1-4 are closed with absorbable sutures
5 is closed with a single long stitch that runs the length of the wound called either subdermal or subcuticular.

Here you can see the stitch being place after which the surgeon will pull both ends and the skin edges will be drawn together.
Mostly an absorbable suture material is used so there's nothing to be taken out though once in a while, a surgeon might choose to use a fine monofilament nylon which has to be removed. For many, many years, once the skin was closed with this stitch, we'd do nothing more, not even a dressing! Just a spray of plastic skin to seal it, specially for heart and chest surgery.


As a recap; 2, 3 are the main anchors that holds the wound closed and and 5 is the one that holds the skin closed.

6 is mostly cosmetic, probably unnecessary, and may either be further closed with staples or Steristrips.

A variant on this is that the surgeon may either not use fat stitches at all or only a few interrupted (single) stitches. His skin closure is therefore more crucial and, should a staple or two come out too soon, may well result in open patches but they'll usually be superficial and look a lot worse than they are. Anything up to the size of the end of your little finger is really nothing at all to be concerned about. Keep clean, cover with a sterile dressing gauze (not cotton wool and no creams that haven't been prescribed by your OS). Get to see your OS as soon as you can and he'll effect a temporary closure with some Steristrips. Simple!
 
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