Yes, it's normal for stitches to still cause some tenderness, itching, or mild pain after a week as your body heals, but increased pain, significant swelling, warmth, red streaks, or pus could signal an infection, requiring medical attention. Minor irritation and itching often mean healing, but persistent or worsening symptoms warrant a call to your doctor.
Any individual experiencing pain, swelling, or pus around their stitches should contact a doctor. This could indicate an infection, which will usually require medical treatment such as antibiotics.
If the skin around your wound is red, swollen, hot, painful, or leaking blood or pus, contact your doctor right away. Fever or red streaks around the wound are signs of infection that need to be addressed urgently. If your stitches pop open and you notice your wound pulling away, return to the doctor.
Stages of Wound Healing
As a result, there can be pain, swelling, and redness in the wound area for up to one week after surgery. It is a normal part of the body's response to injury and does not necessarily indicate a wound infection.
Pain in and around your incision may last for up to several weeks, but it should gradually get better as the days progress.
Contact your surgeon if your surgical wound has any signs of infection:
Continuing or worsening pain can be signs that your wound is infected. Yellow or greenish fluid (pus): It's normal for a healing wound to leak some clear fluid. But a lot of thick, yellowish fluid coming from your wound could mean it's infected — especially if the fluid smells bad.
How do I know if this has happened to me? Wound breakdown can cause an increase in pain, new bleeding or pus-like discharge. You may also begin to feel unwell. Sometimes women notice some stitch material coming away soon after they have had their baby, or can see for themselves that the wound has opened.
Why is My Healing Wound Throbbing? A wound may throb or feel warm during the healing process. This is normal and shows that your body is fighting germs or bacteria and repairing the damaged tissue. However, if the throbbing persists for more than a few days or becomes more intense, it may be a sign of infection.
Common signs of wound infection include increasing pain, spreading redness, foul odor, and pus in the affected area. Severe cases are often accompanied by fever, chills, and fatigue, signaling your immune system is working extra hard.
Visible sutures: If you notice sutures protruding through the skin or becoming visible on the surface, it may indicate that they are beginning to spit. Redness or swelling: Localised redness, swelling, or inflammation around the incision site can be a sign of stitch migration or rejection.
If your stitches have bandages or dressings, follow the care instructions given by your doctor or nurse. Avoid physical activities that might re-open the wound. Children should avoid activities such as playing in sandpits or mud, riding bikes or swimming.
Inflammation- Your body's defense system sends white blood cells to the wound to help clear out bacteria and debris. You might see experience some redness, swelling, warmth or pain.
Second-degree tears — The most common perineal tear, these deeper tears usually require one layer of stitches. Third-degree tears — Tears that reach the vaginal muscles and/or anal sphincter and require layers of stitches.
How long does a stitch last for? Stitches are usually short and painful — they can last anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes. If they last longer (for example, when not exercising), then speak to your doctor.
Symptoms and Causes
Signs it's working: During this stage of healing, you may experience swelling, redness or pain while your wound heals. Your skin may also feel hot to the touch, and you may see a clear liquid around your wound. These are all signs that the inflammatory stage of wound healing is well underway.
While the stitches themselves don't hurt, the numbing injection that happens beforehand might. “You'll feel a small sting from the initial injection, but after that, you shouldn't feel the needle or the stitching itself,” Dr. Agey says.
Six signs that your wound is not healing
When You Should Get Help
Surgical wound infections happen when germs enter the cut that the surgeon makes through the skin to do an operation. A surgical wound infection can happen at any time from 2 to 3 days after surgery until the wound has healed. This is usually 2 to 3 weeks after the operation.
Symptoms of wound dehiscence