injuries poisoning
How To Repair a Laceration With a Subcuticular Running Suture
Aftercare for Subcuticular Running Sutures
Dress the wound (see Lacerations and Splint joints whose movement will cause wound tension (eg, an elbow splint for a dorsal elbow laceration). Instruct the patient to keep the dressing dry and in place and to return in 2 days for a wound check. Instruct the patient to return if signs of infection develop (eg, increased pain, swelling, redness, fever, proximally spreading red streaks [infectious lymphangiitis]). Instruct the patient when to return for suture removal, which is generally based on the wound site: 3 to 5 days for the face, 6 to 10 days for the scalp and trunk, 10 to 14 days for the arms and legs, and 14 days for wounds overlying joints. Early suture removal risks wound dehiscence; however, to decrease scarring and cross-hatching of facial sutures, half of the suture line (ie, every other suture) may be removed on day 3 and the remainder are removed on day 5. 