How long to wait after stitches are removed before diving?

[Scuba_Jenny]

I am supposed to get the stiches out next Wednesday, and have some diving planned on Saturday. What is the current thinking on diving? The stitches are at the outer area of my eyebrow, and I think I can get the mask skirt just around it. I did a search and got various responses from no diving till the wound is healed to putting a Nexcare waterproof bandaid on it.

 

[TSandM]

When were the sutures placed, and for what reason? (Traumatic laceration, removal of skin lesion, etc.)

Most facial sutures are to be left in about six days, which would imply they were placed today or yesterday; in which case diving tomorrow might be a bit ambitious. What you want is to be sure you have a good solid seal of the skin edges, so that bacteria do not get introduced into the wound. You may not have that after 24 hours. After four or five days, you almost certainly would.

 

[Thalassamania]

I'd worry about facial stitches. When I've had to dive and had stitches to close a bad laceration, I've slapped some Tegaderm on in and gone ahead. As they always say, be sure and check with your physician (easy for me, we have a couple in the family).

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

The stitches are from a bicycle fall. The wound is about an inch long, and still tender. The ER doc said he put in 4-5, had to cut a skin flap and get creative a little bit. It happened last Wednesday and was told to leave the stitches in 7 days. So, the diving would be 3 days after the removal and 10 days after the accident.

 

[Rhone Man]

Things might have changed, but I used to dive with stitches in all the time when I was a kid...

 

[Dive-aholic]

The stitches are from a bicycle fall. The wound is about an inch long, and still tender. The ER doc said he put in 4-5, had to cut a skin flap and get creative a little bit. It happened last Wednesday and was told to leave the stitches in 7 days. So, the diving would be 3 days after the removal and 10 days after the accident.

You should be fine. If the sutures are already out, the wound is likely to be completely closed, so there's no risk of introducing an infection into the wound. If there were no other injuries associated with the fall, you should be clear for diving as planned.

 

[TSandM]

I got the Saturday/Wednesday sequence backwards and thought you were diving BEFORE suture removal. After suture removal, you should be fine, as long as wound healing appears to be proceeding normally.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Thanks all for all your help. It is much appreciated. I will monitor the site after the stitches are removed and probably won't make the decision to dive/not dive until Saturday morning. One of my bigger concerns is the pressure of the mask skirt on the wound. Doing maybe 22ft max in salt water.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I got the Saturday/Wednesday sequence backwards and thought you were diving BEFORE suture removal. After suture removal, you should be fine, as long as wound healing appears to be proceeding normally.

I did too until the clarification post.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Just a totally side note..... So my hubby had an eyebrow and out about an inch laceration ( playing witht the Great Dane.. He zigged, Apollo zagged- Apollo's head is harder). It needed stitches. Not my lil' need to get wet guy. He knew I didn't have any more dermabond at the house, so I found myself cleaning his cut and using regular old superglue like days of old. Stings. Works great. He was in the ocean 3 days later. Talk about dedication and machismo, huh?
We have been known to use superglue to cover torn blisters and small rips in skin, after cleaning it real well...... Athletes. Gotta play. Isn't it amazing what didn't have any adverse affect on us in the old days? How did we get so fragile over time??....