We all have experienced minor or even major cuts and injuries at some point in our lives. These could be caused due to accidents or could result from surgical procedures. Such wounds can sometimes heal on their own; at other times, medical intervention is required. Doctors commonly use Medical Devices called Surgical Sutures or Surgial Staples to close open cuts on the skin surface.
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Both sutures and staples working in their own ways to offer an efficient way of closing wounds. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
Sutures are medical grade threads that are used to close open wound or Injury on or beneath the Skin Surface. These threads could be made of various materials – nylon, silk, and polypropylene are commonly used. These non-absorbable sutures are usually removed a few days after they have been applied, when the affected area has healed. Alternatively, the doctor may also choose to use absorbable sutures that do not need removal.
Surgical Staples are generally used to close wounds that might be tough to stitch or hard to reach. Surgical Staples are generally made of plastic, Stainless Steel, and Titanium. Staples can aid in the quick closure of a wound for topical skin closure; however, they must never be applied on the face or neck.
An understanding of the differences between sutures and staples helps surgeons make a decision on which one to use. As stated earlier, staples are commonly used in quick closure of the wounds that are causing heavy blood loss. In such cases, there may not be enough time for the doctor to apply sutures. These situations can be seen in cases of Trauma or injury due to accidents where there is no time to stitch up a wound that is bleeding excessively. In these cases, stapling is highly recommended for closing the wound in a few minutes.
Staples facilitate quick wound closure reducing the surgery time. It also promotes good cosmetic effect post surgery; however, there are studies that indicate stapling to be associated with a higher level of scarring.
However, sutures have their own benefits when closing wounds too. The primary one being that Sutures when used by an experienced hand, offers quick and reliable skin closure.
Patients often have concerns with the level of scarring involved in sutures and staples. In this regard, both sutures and staples offers almost similar level of cosmetic effect to the treated surface. However, staples are not recommended for us on the facial area as this can cause immense scarring on sensitive areas of skin. For the areas like Hands, Feet and sometimes neck region, Staples can be used. For Oral and facial applications, sutures are best used.
Your surgeon decides whether to close the wound with Suture or Staples depending on his preference and the wound condition. The post Operative wound pain at the site of Suture or Staples is managed with the help of antibiotics and pain killer pills.
FILASILK from Meril is a non-absorbable braided coated suture. It has been made from natural silk filaments and offers good knot security. FILASILK has a wide range of applications and is widely used in general surgery and oral surgery.
Meril also offers absorbable variant of suture called MITSU™ POLYGLACTIN 910 SUTURES. MITSU™ is a mid-term absorbable braided and coated synthetic suture. It has been made of poly (glycolide-co-l-lactide) (90/10). MITSU™ degrades through hydrolysis with a very reliable and predictable absorption. MITSU™ can be used in any soft tissue approximation during gynaecology, general surgery, orthopedics, oncology, and bariatric procedures, as well as in other similar medical procedures.
Conclusions
In the future, we may see more evolved ways of closing wounds. As research keeps revealing newer and better techniques in medicine, Meril too brings you the latest medical technology for better healing and health. FILASILK and MITSU™ from Meril offer the top quality and technology for suturing with comfort and reliability.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of endoscopic stapler. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
We hope that this was an informative read for you today.
Stitches and staples have the same job: to close large or complex wounds or incisions that the body would not be able to on its own.
Surgical staples are very similar to the staples you use for paper, but they have more variation in shape and size to compensate for the type of wound they are being used on. The most common materials for surgical staples are titanium, plastic, and polylactide-polyglycolide copolymers. Titanium is the most common, as it is the strongest of the three, but some people can have a bad reaction to titanium, which is why plastic is used. Polylactide-polyglycolide copolymer is a dissolvable material that can be used when the wound is expected to heal relatively quickly. They are applied by holding the wound closed with a pair of forceps and then using a skin stapler to insert the staples.
Stitches are an extremely versatile tool for doctors. They can close a variety of wounds or incisions efficiently. Stitches are available in multiple different materials, making it easy to find an option that won’t cause a reaction. Stitches also have multiple types of absorbable and nonabsorbable materials, allowing doctors to provide the patient with the most optimal method for recovery.
Advantages of staples:
Disadvantages of staples:
Advantages of stitches:
Disadvantages:
In short, no. Both options have their own advantages and disadvantages. There are many studies that compare the efficiency of staples and stitches, and the vast majority find little to no difference between the two.
However, the FDA moved surgical staples from a Class 1 to a Class 2 medical device in October 2021. These classes describe the risk a device has to the patient’s health or safety. From January 1, 2011, to March 31, 2018, the FDA collected over 41,000 medical device reports that detailed 366 deaths, over 9,000 serious injuries, and over 32,000 malfunctions for surgical staplers and staples used internally.
All this means for you is that if you undergo surgery that requires some form of wound closure, your doctor is more likely to use stitches. However, staples are more effective with C-sections and scalp wound closures.
The use of surgical staples and stitches is going to come down to the doctor applying them, and the injury or procedure. As long as you are being treated by a competent doctor with properly functioning equipment and you properly care for your staples or stitches, complications are likely not going to be an issue.
Want more information on manual endoscopic staplers? Feel free to contact us.