string coming out of incision....

my husband has wls on 11/23/04. after getting out of the shower earlier tonight he noticed a small piece of white string coming out of one of his incisions (it looked kind of like dental floss). i happened to be on obesityhelp at the time and logged into the chat room to see if anyone else had experienced this before. of course the concensus was that we needed to contact the doctor (which we had already planned on doing), but only one other person in the chat room had experienced this before. after contacting the nurse on call from our surgical weight loss clinic, we were told to cut the string and leave it at that. she explained that it sounded like the string was actually a piece of the suture under the incision that had worked its way out. she said the rest of the string would eventually follow. my husband and i were just curious if this has happened to anybody else, and if so, what were you told the reasons were it happened and what instructions were you given? i myself am over 3 1/2 months out and never had a problem with this. thanks for any info given and merry christmas! monet (down 87 lbs in 15 weeks, husband is down 50 lbs in 4 weeks)

hi, i had this happen to, it isnt a big deal, my insicion had a leak at the top and when it healed i noticed a peice of dental floss type of string poking out, kinda like a loop, and i called my doc and he said to cut it so it was clost to the skin or try to pull it out, i just cut it as close as i could, and it hasnt givin me any trouble since, now i dont know if he is gonna pull some out when i go for my next dr appt, but i will definitly bring it up to him, but i wouldnt worry to much about it, just call and make sure you should cut it, and then next time you go in have the doc look at it. monica

Monet, Funny you should mention that. I had lap RNY so no sutures on the outside, all of them were on the inside. Anyways, 3 out of 5 of my incisions had a bit of a suture come to the surface. I actually thought they were scabs until they fell off...they were there for over 2 months after surgery. Then one day I was in the shower washing and they just fell off. Guess they'd done their job. Nothing to worry about...he's not going to unravel Good luck both of you! Lisa 11 1/2 wks PO -59 lbs

Monet, Hey this sounds like it is dissolvable stitches. I had them in my finger and when they get a little older, they look kind of like what you're describing. It's probably not anything to worry about. My dissolvable stitches lasted a LONG time in my finger and they were exposed to air. Hope this puts your mind at ease!! I would kind of be surprised if it were anything else. Allison

Hi Monet, I have a little opening on one of my incisions, and I can see two little bits of string in there. Went to my two week post-op and they said that was okay just to keep the site clean. I can feel the knots in my incisions under my skin. I am told they will eventually disolve. But I do have two little white stiches that I can see coming out. I am keeping it clean, and hopefully that's all I need to do!! So yes it has happened to me!! Congratulations on all your weight loss, between you and your hubby you are doing really great!!!!! Take good care! Regina

I too had the string come to the surface in all but one of my incisions. It was knotted too, I never thought twice about it, didn't even call the Dr. It eventually came out. I didn't cut it though, I just didn't think that I needed to mess with it. Way to go! Awesome progress! God Bless!! Jo

Monet (BTW-LOVE the name), I too had this in a couple of my lap incisions. The "strings" were very stiff, felt a bit like fishing line poking through the skin. I left them alone and asked my doc about them on my next visit. He said it was not unusual to have this happen. To leave them alone. I did, and they left about as fast as they showed up. I always kinda felt that the reason I was suddenly able to feel them was because the swelling was going down at the site of the incision. Not sure how much truth there is in that ... but it made sense to me at the time. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I went through that about 14 months ago and am still around to tell the story!!! Congratulations on your awesome results. Both of you keep up the excellent work! And a very Merry Christmas to you as well! Tammy

I had this happen to me, not with WLS but a scar revision on my forehead. I was in a bad car accident and had a nasty scar on my forehead. I had stitches coming out of the revised scar for years. I kid you knot!! Usually they would work up to the surface and fall out, sometimes I had to cut them. No biggy and now some 25 years later--the scar is barely noticable.

I had the same thing happen. It freaked me out, but fortunately people were on the board at the time who could reassure me. I actually only had about 1/2 inch work its way out over a couple weeks time, then everything healed up. Hugs..............................Shelley 332/228/175?? -104

I had several strings appear, some like floss, some like fishline. When the first two appeared I asked a friend that had had the surgery and she said they would fall off eventually. But! I had to have some fun with it, so I called my son into the room (he is 8) and showed him. Then I said, "Josh, look at this!" and I tugged lightly on one and twitched my foot at the same time. OMG, you should have seen his eyes! they were as big as saucers and he made me do it again just to be sure. I told him the surgeons must have attached my foot to it by mistake. Then I tugged the other string...sure enough, my left hand twitched! LOL...he was freaking out, saying "oh my gosh, I can't believe they did that!" and took off running to tell his big brother. Well, as the days went by and new strings appeared, I had a blast messing with him! He would come home from school and do a "string check" and then watch to see what the new ones were attached to, hehehehe....some were more difficult to see at first, like my nose and an eyebrow... He bought it, hook, line and sinker!!! god, I LOVE that kid! Susan