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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff front House, stuff works dot Com

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Speaker 1: where smart happens Him Marshall Brain with today's question, what

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Speaker 1: are dissolvable stitches? For centuries, dennists and oral surgeons, plastic surgeons, obstetricians, urologists,

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Speaker 1: and even veterinarians have used stitches to close up gashes, cuts,

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Speaker 1: and surgical incisions. Now many physicians are using some form

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Speaker 1: of dissolvable stitches, also called absorbable suitures. The great thing

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Speaker 1: about dissolvable stitches is that they can be used on

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Speaker 1: internal or external wounds. Stitches dissolvable or not have three features.

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Speaker 1: The first is thickness. Some stitches must be thin, perhaps

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Speaker 1: for a simple cut or plastic surgery, or a wound

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Speaker 1: that needs to heal with less scarring, and others thicker,

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Speaker 1: perhaps for in eternal wounds were scarring isn't is worrisome,

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Speaker 1: or so the stitch will last longer. To make a

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Speaker 1: thicker stitch, more of the material is woven together. For

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Speaker 1: a thinner stitch, less material is woven together. Second, there's elasticity.

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Speaker 1: Stitches on your knee need to be more elastic than

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Speaker 1: those on your forearm, because your knee must be able

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Speaker 1: to bend. Without property elasticity, the stitches can snap and

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Speaker 1: come out, or even tear the wound and delay healing. Then, third,

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Speaker 1: there's decomposition rate. A deep, wide wound will need longer

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Speaker 1: to heal, so the stitches will have to last longer.

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Speaker 1: Stitches can be formulated and strengthened to dissolve slowly or

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Speaker 1: rapidly over the desired treatment period. Dissolvable stitches differ from

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Speaker 1: non absorbable stitches because they are first naturally decomposed by

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Speaker 1: the body and second temporary and don't usually require a

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Speaker 1: follow up doctor's visit to remove the stitches or to

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Speaker 1: check on the wound. To your body, stitches are a

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Speaker 1: foreign substance, and the body is programmed to destroy things

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Speaker 1: that are foreign to it. Dissolvable stitches are made from

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Speaker 1: natural materials such as process callagen, animal stitches in other words, silk,

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Speaker 1: and hair, as well as some synthetic materials that the

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Speaker 1: body can break down. This allows the body to dissolve

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Speaker 1: the stitches over time. Usually, by the time the stitches

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Speaker 1: are dissolved, the wound is completely healed. Occasionally, a stitch

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Speaker 1: won't dissolve completely. This usually occurs when part of the

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Speaker 1: stitches left on the outside of the body. There, the

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Speaker 1: body's fluids cannot dissolve and decompose the stitch, so it

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Speaker 1: remains intact. A doctor can easily remove the remaining piece

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Speaker 1: of stitch once the wound is closed, or the patient

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Speaker 1: may be able to give it a gentle tug to

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Speaker 1: remove that remaining bit for moral this and thousands of

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