What should you know about stitches and Steri-Strips?

Stitches pass through or under skin and may be absorbable or require removal. Steri-Strips are narrow adhesive strips placed across a closed wound. They may be used alone for a small, shallow cut or placed over stitches to reduce surface tension. A clinician chooses closure based on depth, location, skin tension, contamination, and bleeding.

Keep the dressing and closure as dry as instructed, and avoid rubbing or soaking the area. Do not peel away Steri-Strips early; let them loosen naturally unless your clinician gives different advice. Avoid creams, alcohol, or peroxide unless specifically recommended. Limit movements that tug the wound, and wash hands before wound care.

Contact a clinician if the strips lift and the wound edges separate, a stitch breaks, or bleeding returns. Prompt review is also needed for spreading redness, worsening warmth or swelling, increasing pain, pus-like drainage, fever, or an unpleasant smell. Heavy bleeding, numbness, or inability to move the nearby body part needs urgent assessment.

Ask how long the strips should remain, whether they can get wet, when stitches should be checked or removed, and which movements or sports to pause. Clarify what dressing to use and what to do if an edge peels away.