Consideration When Choosing Suture Kit
The reasons for managing a wound by suturing are pretty obvious. First, stitching wounds make them heal faster. It also helps prevent infection, stops bleeding, and may provide a visually pleasing wound instead of a gross mass of tissue.
So, to ensure that you address the aesthetic nature of the healing process of a wound and prevent the probability of infection, you need to have the right skills and equipment. In this article, we're going to look at essential factors that you should consider when choosing suturing tools for managing wounds:
Experience level
Much of the process that surrounds suture selection mainly depends on surgeon or wound care specialist training and their professional preference. There are a wide variety of suture materials in the market based on the physical location and surgical requirement of a patient. Generally, the doctor will select the suture that sufficiently holds the wound edges and supports rapid healing. The tensile suture's strength should never exceed a patient's tensile strength of their tissue. As the wound heals, loss of suture strength, no matter how insignificant it may seem, should over time be slower than the tissue tensile strength gain.
Nature of the wound vs. suturing material
Typically there are two types of suturing materials, which are absorbable and non-absorbable sutures. Observable sutures don't necessarily have to be removed after a wound has healed because enzymes found in our tissues will naturally digest them. Non-observable sutures are mainly used for soft tissue repair, such as neurological and cardiovascular procedures, and can be removed or left there permanently.
Depending on the severity and nature of wounds or lacerations, a wound care specialist or surgeon will choose the correct suture material and use the right technique for your condition.
Other Factors Affecting Suture Selection
Choosing the appropriate surgical suture reduces the risk of developing postoperative complications, which can consequently minimize the chances of ever going for secondary surgery. At the same time, it ensures that the procedure is done right, reducing the time required to treat a patient, quicken the healing process, and treatment costs are also reduced. That being the case, ensuring proper selection of suturing is the first step towards the right direction. Some of the core factors that ought to affect suture material selection include;
- Wound type and strength
- Age of the patient
- Interaction between suture and tissue
- Wound healing time
- Presence or absence of infection
- Properties of suture material
- Incision type
- Suturing technique
- Healing properties of the sutured tissues
- Tensile strength of the suture
- Ease of passage through the tissue
- Short and long term reactions in the tissue
- Ease of use
- Packaging features that allow the kit to come with minimal memory
- Availability of the suture material locally
- Among others
Bottom line
Suture integrity may be lost, filaments can be separated, healing can be stalled, and other unlikely incidents may happen when the choice of suturing material isn't thought out carefully. However, the above-highlighted points are availed to you to help you choose suture appropriately!