Modification of Laurence’s stitch for skin closure

Abstract

Laurence’s stitch has previously been described for surgical wound closure. The technique describes a continuous horizontal mattress using an absorbable suture material, with the knot buried at each end of the wound. We have modified this stitch by leaving the knot outside the skin and beyond the ends of the wound. We feel that this improves Laurence’s stitch by avoiding any possibility of a surgical knot abscess and allowing a slightly faster wound closure but still providing the benefits associated with a continuous horizontal mattress.