Sutures tend to be medical devices that repair cuts on the skin tissue. The tissues are held together if there is a breakage in the skin integrity after surgery or an injury. Usually it is in the form of a thread like tissue and according to the cuts there are of different shapes and sizes.
PGA surgical suture advocates their classification into various types. It can be braided or monofilament and even it can be natural or synthetic. In addition it may be absorbable or non- absorbable. The former are the ones that the doctor will not remove. It is digested by the enzymes present in the human body. Numerous types of absorbable sutures are there like gut and PGA. The non- absorbable ones are removed by the doctor after a certain point of time. Even there are various types of non- absorbable sutures like polyamide , polythene etc.
More about non- absorbable sutures
The non- absorbable sutures are the ones that are not removed by the doctor even after a required period. Long term protection is provided to the tissues. From the inflammatory process of the tissue it is manually removed and manually separated from the skin. Some of the commonly used non- absorbable sutures are silk, nylon and Prolene. Such type of suture are normally used in tissues that takes a long time to heal.
Silk sutures
For a considerable period of time these sutures are used. They turn out to be synthetic man- made ones. They are best to be used in dental surgery and is available in reels of 25 metres
The benefits of silk sutures is that they have excellent knot security. Since they are easy to handle during surgery they may be used as a temporary suture. Even they turn out to be comfortable and soft.
The drawbacks are silk tends to tender the tissues as it would be painful to remove it. Since it has low tensile strength it may break under fiction.
Polyamide sutures
They turn out to be synthetic surgical sutures and it is developed from caprolactam. Coming to the benefits it has low reactivity tissue and for general tissue approximation it is used. Even for neurosurgery and cardiovascular procedures they may be used. The drawbacks are that it is difficult to handle and tie.
Polypropylene tissues
They turn out to be non- absorbable monofilament tissues. Such type of sutures are known to provide long term dermal support. They call for tissue reaction and put to use in skin along with pull out closures. The drawbacks are that it has poor knot security.
Stainless steel wall sutures
They are non -absorbable sutures used in wound closure or orthopaedic procedures. The positives are it is malleable, soft and cost- effective. Even they tend to be flexible and strong sutures as it does not encourage infection in any form. The drawbacks are that it is spiny in nature
To conclude these are some of the types of sutures in nature.
