suture
Meaning of suture: A word doing three jobs at once: the thread, the stitch it makes, and an immovable joint between two bones of the skull.
Definition of suture
A suture is a stitch used to hold the edges of a wound or a divided tissue together while it heals, and also the thread from which the stitch is made. Threads differ in whether the body breaks them down, whether they are a single strand or many braided together, and how long they keep their strength. The same word names the seams between skull bones.
What are the thread types?
| Property | Option | What follows from it |
|---|---|---|
| Fate in the body | Absorbable | Broken down over weeks; used where removal is impossible |
| Fate in the body | Non-absorbable | Holds strength indefinitely; removed from skin, or left deep |
| Construction | Monofilament | One smooth strand, slides easily, harbors fewer bacteria |
| Construction | Braided | Many strands, easier to knot, more surface for bacteria |
Choice follows the tissue and the timetable. A wound whose repair is strong within a fortnight can be closed with something that dissolves over that period, while a tendon or a hernia repair carrying load for months needs thread that outlasts the healing. Thread size runs on a scale where more zeros mean finer, so eyelid skin is closed with a strand far thinner than the one used on the abdominal wall.
How does stitching compare with the other ways of closing a wound?
| Method | Suited to | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Sutures | Any depth, any tension | Slower to place; skin stitches need removing |
| Staples | Long straight scalp and trunk wounds | Very fast; leave more obvious marks |
| Adhesive strips | Shallow wounds under no tension | Painless; lift off moist or hairy skin |
| Tissue glue | Small clean cuts, often in children | No needle; unsuitable under tension |
Depth is what separates them. Only a stitch closes the layers beneath the skin, and a wound held together at the surface alone leaves a space underneath where blood gathers as a hematoma. A surgical incision is therefore usually repaired in layers, with absorbable thread below and whichever material suits the appearance above.
What goes wrong?
Stitches tied too tightly throttle the blood supply at the edges and leave crosshatched marks, while stitches tied too loosely leave a gap that fills with fluid. A wound that pulls apart after closure is called dehiscence, and it points to tension, infection or poor healing rather than to the thread. Deep stitches occasionally work their way to the surface months later and are pushed out through a small opening, which alarms people although it reflects the body expelling a foreign strand rather than an infection. The skull meaning is unrelated to any of this: those sutures are fibrous joints that lock together as a child grows.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The laceration was closed with interrupted sutures and reviewed for removal a week later.
Good to know
Absorbable and non-absorbable threads are not interchangeable, since the first loses strength over weeks while the second holds indefinitely, and the same word names the fibrous joints of the skull rather than any surgical stitch.
Word origin
Where “suture” comes from
From the Latin sutura, a seam, built on suere, meaning to sew.