Absorbable Sutures Help in an Easier Recovery
Posted by dunitzsantrino on April 4th, 2015
A surgical suture or surgical stitch is what holds your tissues together after a surgery, or in any event of injury. A thread is attached to a needle in order to make the stitch. Various different kinds of sutures have been invented and used all over the years. They were usually made of bone or other materials like aluminum bronze wire, copper, or silver. Plant and animal materials like catgut, silk, arteries, tendons, muscle strips, cotton, hemp, flax, and hair have also been used. Absorbable sutures are generally made of synthetic materials like polydioxanone, polyglycolic acid, polylactic acid, and monocryl. Nylon, polyester, PVDF, and polypropylene are used for the non absorbable ones.
The most commonly used sutures are the absorbable sutures. This is mainly because they are naturally biodegradable. They slowly degrade inside the body. Over time, the body absorbs the suture material. The original material used for such sutures is catgut. This was until the synthetic sutures came into the market. Different processes like proteolytc enzymatic degradation and hydrolysis break down the sutures inside the body. The time taken is usually 10 days to 8 weeks depending upon the type of material that is used for the suture. These are the self degrading sutures that are used mainly for the internal body tissues, and also for patients for whom coming back to the hospital for removing the sutures is not possible. These sutures are very strong for the purpose, and degrade slowly to remove all the foreign material from the body.
Bone wax is something that is used for controlling the bleeding from bone surfaces which happens in surgical procedures. It is a kind of a waxy substance, usually made of beeswax. A softening agent like paraffin or petroleum jelly is also used for the preparation. The substance is smeared all across the bleeding edge of the bone. This is done to block the holes to cause immediate bone hemostasis via an effect known as the tamponade effect. The ordinary bone wax had only the tamponade action and no hemostatic properties to activate the blood clotting cascade. These days, it is usually supplied in sterile sticks. Before application, it needs to be softened.
The bone wax available these days employs both non-absorbable and absorbable or resorbable formations. A firm wax in a stick form is how it is available. Prior to use, this needs to be softened by kneading. Bone hemostat in putty format has been introduced in recent years. They act via a tamponade just like the normal stick waxes. The difference is that they do not need any softening before use, and are ready to use as they are. This saves time and effort. The wax is available in different forms under different brand names all across the world.
