Please Help- Stitches in my baby's hand!?

Question

My toddler got a bad cut on her hand. We had it stitched up. The doctor used dissolving stitches. It never looked like it was stitched well, it had big bulges between stitches, the skin seemed to overlap, etc. It looked a bit infected at her checkup last Thursday, and she has been taking medicine.

Now, the stitches are falling out. The skin is peeling, and it looks like it is falling apart! The overlapped part looks like it is just hanging there. Has this happened to anyone?

Answer 1

Sounds like he used Vicryl or old catgut stitching. It does dissolve and is usually only used on internal closure of deep wounds. TRy to go to a plastics or hand specialist, Another ER doc will be reluctant to touch it. And not all places have a plastic surgeon on call.

Answer 2

i would make an appt to have her pediatrician look at her hand or take her back to the emergency room for a second opinion.



dermabond (the dissolving stitches the dr used) is not supposed to do that-the dr did a poor job.



i would recommend that you request a plastic surgeon look at your daughter's hand at this point and don't take no for an answer. being that it is possibly infected, i wouldn't want just a regular dr trying to repair the problem.



ask your pediatrician for a referral or if you go to the emergency room (only if your regular dr can't see her within 48 hours) tell them you want a plastic surgeon consulted. this will assure that your daughter's hand gets stitched properly without any or minimal scarring.



hope this helps!!

Answer 3

My children have lived through so much of childhood scrapes and scars. I would suggest you wrap the hand for a few days.

A mitten that breathes would be good. Maybe wrap it in gauze during the child's nap, and over that put the mitten on.

Try to make a game out of it, with the other children, or you also wearing mittens for a few days until the peeling, etc. passes.