Removed Cancer From Forehead. Stitches Came Out While Bathing. Should I Consult Plastic Surgeon?

Posted on Wed, 17 Apr 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 Answered on

Thu, 16 May 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Dermatologist remove cancer on my upper forehead, left stitches in 11 days, removed and placed strip to keep wound closed. Strip came off next morning while bathing. Wound opened and will be a larger scar. This happened last year too. Should I go to plastic surgeon?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (6 hours later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Wound can be stitched no longer than 12-24 after an incision. If not, the wound needs to get healed by epithelialization (new cells needs to migrate to the wound area). This process can take some time (few weeks) and before the scar tissue wont be created, no need to visit plastic surgeon.
If the scar will be visible and disturbing for you, than you should visit plastic surgeon for its removal. I suggest you to visit surgeon after about 3 months from the surgery (the scar should be good enough after that time).
You can also try Mederma gel to make your scar less visible (but first you need to let the wound to get healed).

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar