I had a ‘thing’ removed from my ear today and got a couple of stitches to close up the hole. After the doctor was done he didn’t tell me anything except not to swim for about a week. He didn’t mention anything about putting something on it like Neosporean and I didn’t think to ask, well, until I got home. Should I just leave it alone or put something on it? He said the stitches will disolve on thier own.
Lesson learned: WEAR SUNBLOCK! Especially on your ears.
Having had well over 200 stitches in my lifetime I’d consider myself an expert. What you want to do is keep it dry for the first day or so. No big deal if some water gets on it when you shower though, just keep the thing clean. A crust will likely form that you can dissolve using warm salt water 2-3 times a day and patting dry with a clean towel of preferably a sterile gause pad. After about two days it will start to dry out at which time you will want to start putting a little neosporin on it, but don’t bother bandaging it up, the ear is a difficult place to do that with any degree of success.
happy healing.
Doesn’t really matter. You could do nothing. You could do lots of little things…I’d put a tiny amount of antibiotic cream on it (I like bacitracin) for about 5 days. Conventional treatment as far as I understand it:
keep dry for about 24 hours - then getting it a little wet is o.k. (shower). Don’t scrub.
No soaking (swim/hot tub) until sutures out.
Start antibiotic cream right away - keep suture line air tight for about 7-10 days - use the minimal amount needed. Vaseline works just as well. Goal is to limit aerobic bacterial growth at wound edge to limit inflammation to limit scar formation.
Try to keep out of sun for 6-12 months. New skin pigments differently in the sun - so scar is more noticeable. At first use a dressing to block the sun - then after a couple weeks - sunblock.
Some like vitamin E oil (not lotion) or aloe after sutures out and antibiotic cream phase over but likely no benefit.
On the ear I’d remove any sutures that are left after about 5-7 days - even if your doc used absorbable sutures - but you should check time with the doc who put them in.
Dave