# little tiny hook to take out stitches? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463 "2010-01-11T02:54:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/1 "2010-01-11T02:54:24Z")
I have biopsies all the time. I’ve had fifty moles removed since I was twelve. When I was living in Taiwan, I had some done, and the lady took the stitches out with a little, tiny hook that just popped the stitches out. Where can I find one of those in the US? What is it called? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/2 "2010-01-11T03:26:21Z")
Googling “stitch remover” produced various links, including a bunch to [this sort of device](http://threadsandthings.com.au/store/products/item619.html). Is that what you had in mind? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/3 "2010-01-11T03:33:11Z")
I’m betting an Xacto knife might accomplish the same thing. Or a fine tweezer. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/4 "2010-01-11T03:37:08Z")
This is the style of scissors use to take out sutures: [http://www.georgetiemann.com/prodimg/highres/105-670.jpg](http://www.georgetiemann.com/prodimg/highres/105-670.jpg) The hook at the end slips easily underneath the stitch, the other blade cuts the stitch, then one uses a forceps to pull it out. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/5 "2010-01-12T11:51:32Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Googling “stitch remover” produced various links, including a bunch to [this sort of device](http://threadsandthings.com.au/store/products/item619.html). Is that what you had in mind? Even though that one is probably too big, that was the sort of thing I’m talking about. Is there a smaller one? Does it have a name? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/6 "2010-01-12T13:12:21Z")
Mind you if you want to do your own suture removal you should learn how to do it. Sterilize everything. You are trying to pull it out without passing any suture that has been outside the body inside the body. You pull the suture up on one side to cut a portion that was under the skin as close to the skin as you can. Grab the other side and pull it through. You will see that none of the dried out, dirty suture from on top of the skin went through the wound. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/7 "2010-01-12T13:53:56Z")
The device they use to take stitches out of cloth is called, IIRC, a **Seam Ripper**. I wouldn’t use it to take stitches out of skin – skin is a lot less resistant to ripping than the sutures, and has lot more nerve endings than cloth. When I had suture removed, the doctor used teeny little scissors. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/8 "2010-01-12T14:01:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > When I had suture removed, the doctor used teeny little scissors. Right, this is my point. All my life in the US, I’ve removed or had removed my stitches with scissors, and more often than not, the scissors have to dig into the skin a little. Whereas one time in Taiwan, I was having sutures removed, and the nurse used this little tiny metal hook, and _pop_ _pop_ _pop_ _pop_ _pop_ my stitches were out. It was incredible. Now I’m looking for one of those things. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/9 "2010-01-12T14:04:04Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Mind you if you want to do your own suture removal you should learn how to do it. I’ve taken them out before. I’ve been having these biopsies done since I was a kid, and started taking the sutures out myself when I was in college. I’m not saying I know everything, and I am as careful as possible. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/10 "2010-01-12T14:28:46Z")
[This](http://www.medicalsuppliest.com/ligature-knife-5) is what it was, if I remember correctly. I tried ordering one, but the shipping is almost as much as the item itself. Are there medical supply stores? ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/11 "2010-01-12T14:53:38Z")
You mean something like [this](http://hbazone.pharmacy-4-less.com/Suture-Removal-Kit-Sterile-1-Each/M/B000GG7R0O.htm)? If I were you I’d get the single use sterile kits- that way you can dispose of them and don’t have to mess about trying to sterilise blades. The technique is just to cut on one side of the knot, near the skin, and pull the other side of the knot, near the skin so that you lift the suture out rather than pulling it through the wound. I have a couple of single use stitch cutters at home that I got from work- irishfella has a lot of moles and usually gets one or two biopsied or removed at each annual dermatologist visit. I reckon that by liberating the supplies from work and taking his stitches out myself I’m saving the NHS money because he doesn’t have to go and see a nurse at his GP’s office to get them out. ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-tiny-hook-to-take-out-stitches/524463/12 "2010-01-12T17:23:21Z")
> [@gitfiddle](#): > > [This](http://www.medicalsuppliest.com/ligature-knife-5) is what it was, if I remember correctly. I tried ordering one, but the shipping is almost as much as the item itself. Are there medical supply stores? Certainly there are, where I live at least. Yellow pages and a few phone calls should establish whether they sell Littauer scissors, which are the proper name of those scissors with the tiny curve on one blade.