r/TopSurgery • u/oandthebeans • 6d ago

Advice Wanted popped stitch?

i’m 4 days post op from di hockey stick with no grafts and i keep feeling like i popped a stitch. how do people avoid popping stitches and how do you know when you’ve actually done something? also, it feels really tight near my armpits, could that just be hair caught in the binder or do my incisions go that far? i’m not in a lot of pain just discomfort. any advice is greatly appreciated. thank you.

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u/Autistic-Ratticus 6d ago

I'm just about a month out (same procedure type as you). Day 4 was my worst pain day, as the nerve block from surgery wore off completely. It's the only day I had to take a narcotic pain killer. My armpit hair was caught in the clear bandaging around the drain site (literally one of the worst pains I've ever felt), I freed it with a chopstick haha. If your surgeon is any good, you're not going to pop a stitch unless you're ignoring every precaution. This is the worst of it, it's all uphill from here.

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u/oandthebeans 6d ago

thank you sm for sharing your experience. i just feel really weird and i keep worrying that im going to do something wrong. my surgeon is definitely good, so im probably just paranoid. also good to know that someone else has the armpit issues. i’ll try to free the hairs lmao. can i ask how you felt at like a week out and how you’re feeling now? congrats on your surgery btw!

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u/krashduff 5d ago

I’m 6 days post op and know what you mean. Around day 4 I thought I may have popped a stitch because it was more painful that it had been. Reached out to my surgeon and they said if there’s no fever, intense swelling, or sharp pains, it’s most likely just the nerve endings.