Sutures in dermatosurgery

Abstract

Sutures are a very important component of dermatosurgery. During the three years post graduate curriculum in dermatology, hardly any kind of dermatosurgery or aesthetic dermatology is taught. Aesthetic dermatology is usually not practiced in the medical colleges. But their are some basic surgical techniques, which every dermatologist ought to know. The technique of closing wounds by means of needle and thread is several thousand years old [1]. The history of surgical sutures can be traced back to ancient Egypt where a number of surgical techniques involving sutures were used. There are two types of sutures: Absorbable and Non absorbable. The absorbable sutures include: Polyglactin, Polydiaxonone, PGA and Catgut. The nonabsorbable sutures include nylon, silk and polypropylene [2]. The size of the suture refers to the diameter of the suture strand. The more the zeroes characterizing the suture size, the smaller the resultant strand diameter. The smaller the suture, the lesser the tensile strength of the strand [3]. The suture size ranges from 7 to 11-0. • Size 7 is largest • Size 11-0 is smallest • Size 7-0 approximately corresponds to the thickness of human hair.