Surgical staples are used after surgery to close open wounds or incisions. Putting staples is considered to be a better option by surgeons instead of applying stitches or sutures.
The key difference between surgical staples and stitches is that the surgical staples do not get dissolved in your incisions like stitches do when your wound heals. Because of this reason, you need an experienced surgeon to remove surgical staples with utmost care.
For how long staples need to stay in your wound?
Depending on the severity of your wound, your body needs surgical staples for a week, or in some cases, the staples should remain up to 21 days before they are clipped out of your body. However, it also depends on the part of your body where surgical staples are placed, including other factors like:
- The type of surgery you had
- The size of the incision
- The complexity of your incision
- The direction of the wound
- How long does the area take to heal?
For instance, if a body had C-section surgery, staples that are used to close the wound can be removed in the course of three to four days. However, the staples used in vertical incisions may take a week or two to be removed safely.
Indicators that show your staples are ready to remove
You should wait till your wound heal completely until you are eager to get the staples removed. Some of the indicators that show your staples are ready to be removed, include:
- The surgical area has healed completely, and it doesn’t need staples anymore – and the skin has covered the opening so the wound would not open.
- The wound is packed properly and no pus, blood, or fluid is draining out of the wound.
- There aren’t any infection symptoms on the wound.
Can surgical staples be removed at home?
It takes a professional medical license to induce and remove surgical staples. You should never try to remove these staples by yourself, even if they are coming out of the place. Never use your hands to pluck them out.
Your surgeon will follow a proper procedure and use sanitized tools for removing the surgical staples safely, in order to prevent any future complications that can appear, such as blood or fluid drainage from the area or the wound gets infected due to the use of unhygienic and non-sanitized tools.
How the surgical staples are removed?
The procedure that is usually followed by doctors to remove staples depends on:
- Your body part where the staples are located
- The type of surgery you went through
- Whether the staples placed outside or inside your body
The surgical staples usually do not sting while they are being removed, but you may feel pinching sensations when these staples are removed. Generally, doctors follow these steps when removing staples.
- Remove the covering or bandage from your wound.
- Identify any abnormal indications over the wound or issues related to tissues.
- Sanitize the entire incision with antiseptics.
- Use the staple extractor tool to slide underneath the outer part of the staple, twist slightly, or wiggle the tool until the staple comes out from the skin.
- Repeat the steps until all the staples across the incision are removed.
- You have to visit the doctor more than once to get your staples removed, as all the staples may not be removed until the wound has healed completely.
- The sterile strip will be placed at every area where a staple was placed.
Staples that are placed inside your body may not be removed, and stay inside permanently.
How to remove surgical staples without a staple remover
It is strictly forbidden to remove your own staples without any precautions. But if you really want to do it as you feel that your wounds have healed, and you have recovered from your injuries. It is suggested that you use a surgical staple remover tool, sterilized bandages/dressings, and antiseptic solution. You can get the apparatus online easily these days.
But how to remove surgical staples without a staple remover? First of all, be careful while clipping out your staples. Immaturely clipping them might invite an infection. Secondly, people often are caught saying that they used wire snippers to get rid of the surgical staples.
With due consideration, you must research staples, their removal procedures, how they look like, after how much time you can remove them, and more without taking any step further.
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