surgical sutures

Alhamdulillah baru je tamatkn 3 sessions of BCS (basic clinical skills) and to me it was fun + beneficial for my future need. for today, i would like to share some of the types of sutures used in surgical suturing that i learned during my last session on last thursday.

we learned 6 of them, which are:-
1. simple interrupted suture
2. continuous suture
3. vertical mattress
4. horizontal mattress
5. subcutaneous suture
6. subcuticular suture

Here are pictures of how the sutures look like.....

1. simple interrupted suture

This is the most simple type and most commonly used to suture skin.

2. continuous suture

There are many types of continuous sutures but i only learned the first type.

Here another picture of it. if you look carefully the way of suturing this type of continuous suture will end up with an oblique like pattern on the surface of the wound. and continuous suture are mainly used to suture fascia where it need a tight suture with no gaps.

3. vertical mattress

Here is how to memorize the step for this type of suturing. we need to enter the needle from far and take the needle out from far too. then enter the needle from near the edge of wound and out from the edge of wound. so the spell is far-far-near-near. remember okay! ;)

4. horizontal mattress

Here is how the vertical & horizontal mattresses when look from the surface of skin.

In vertical mattress the suture line is perpendicular to the wound line while in horizontal mattress the suture line is parallel to the wound line.

5. subcutaneous suture

In this type of suture, the thread will not be visualized on the surface of the skin. it is hidden within the subcutaneous layer of the skin.

6. subcuticular suture

In this type, it is only used in a surgical wound and cannot be done on a contaminated skin wound since surgical wound has a smooth wound line while in traumatic wound the wound line is irregular.

There are a lot more suture types but those are all what we learned during our BCS session.

Here's another knowledge, you cannot simply hold a surgical needle by hand but you need a needle holder instead. here is how to hold a needle holder. one ring for the thumb, one ring for the ring finger and you have to put your index finger on the shaft of the needle holder to stabilize it. this is the correct way of holding a needle holder. 

As you can see, there are many types of surgical needle and threads. each has its own special function. 

Types of surgical needles.

Types of surgical threads.

While this is the needle and thread i used to suture during the BCS session which are the polypropylene, blue in colour and silk, black colour. the type of needle is round and cutting needles.

Last but not least..... my version of surgical suture! hehe.

Lastly, wanna show a video on how to tie a surgical knot using one hand. it is wise to know since it is the fast way of knotting a suture and usually used in the emergency unit.

Goodluck to all doctors to be :)