When I was eight, my dad let me remove his staples. I used needle nose pliers and it went perfectly. They were simple straight legged staples in his head.
Dad was big into home surgery. He and I both are somewhat accident prone.
Therefore, I’ve removed bunches of stitches. However, if there were any signs of infection or the first stitch didn’t come out properly, you can bet I’d be seeing the doctor. Never happened, though.
dga that’s a good point but not everyone has health insurance. When I go to the doctor, I pay cash, so it better be a emergency.
an emergency, even.
Thanks, Apricot, for the mental images. Especially the home surgery. 
Ever thought of making a movie? Or a do-it-yourself book? I get 10%
Peace,
mangeorge
Where I work, the patient is not charged for medical services, including sutures or their removal. I get paid a reasonable rate to do it by OHIP.
I work in a community with lots of farmers and a Honda plant. Farmers are very big into home surgery, self-reliance and not going to the doctor. Most would remove the sutures themselves anyway. No reason they shouldn’t, in my mind, if they understand what to do – just cutting the threads can leave part of the stitch buried.
That would explain it, Dr_Paprika, my dad was a farmer.
And, your welcome Mangeorge
Most of the adults I grew up around worked for farmers or were laborers. My dad was a delivery man. Home treatment was the norm. Stitches were mostly for those cuts that wouldn’t stop bleeding, iirc. Everybody had scars by the time we were teenagers. We were kinda proud of them.
The point is still valid - while the office is free to charge you for taking out the sutures, I think in most cases uninsured policy will be consistent with insured patients: suture removal is at no cost, considered part of the procedure that put them in a week or two before. But call ahead to make sure.
Hey I used the same method to remove 5 stitches from my chin following a motorcycle fall
When I got stitches in my shoulder, the doc only took out every other stitch when I came back. He sent me home with a little stitch cutter (basically a hooked razor blade in a sterile package) and instructions on how to do the rest. I have a big mother of a scar there, but no stitch marks. I suppose I just looked particularly competent, because it really surprised me that any doctor would actually tell me to do that kind of thing myself (To his credit, the man was completely professional, fully certified, and was fixing a mistake made by a much more popular doctor).
I removed the stitches on a chin wound suture. For years afterward there was small irritating pimple I would have to express every month or so on the ege of the wound. Whether this was because I left a small piece of the suture monofilament in the wound, or not, I don’t know . It finally went away after several years. Get a doctor to take it out. If even a little bit is left in it can be problematic.
Well, apparently I’m in good company, because I ended up doing it myself (after being told that it would be a 3 hour wait at the hospital). I used nail clippers and tweezers, and one stitch had actually come out by itself.
And if there was any question as to whether or not the wound was healed, the scabs came off today. Still pretty pink underneath though!
Well, apparently I’m in good company, because I ended up doing it myself (after being told that it would be a 3 hour wait at the hospital). I used nail clippers and tweezers, and one stitch had actually come out by itself.
And if there was any question as to whether or not the wound was healed, the scabs came off today. Still pretty pink underneath though!
50-70 years from now? What?
No… if done improperly it could get infected… which could lead to death 5-7 days from now.
Or eight and a half years ago.
zombie or no
good thing he took them out already, otherwise there would be scarring by now.
Well, he hasn’t posted in 3 years. So, probably dead.
Yeah, but he made it about 6 years after the removal, so that’s not too bad - although it is only about 1/10th of his estimate.