The easiest way to know if your stitches are dissolvable is to check your discharge paperwork or call your surgeon’s office. But if you don’t have that information handy, there are several visual and practical clues that can help you figure it out based on where your stitches are, what they look like, and whether you were told to come back for a removal appointment.
Check Whether You Have a Removal Appointment
The simplest clue is whether your care team scheduled a follow-up to take the stitches out. Non-dissolvable sutures are typically removed within 7 to 14 days, so if you were given a specific date to return for removal, your stitches are almost certainly the permanent kind. If no removal appointment was mentioned, there’s a good chance your stitches are dissolvable.
Your discharge instructions or post-op paperwork will often state this directly. Look for terms like “absorbable,” “dissolvable,” or brand names like Vicryl, Monocryl, or PDS. If you see terms like Prolene, Ethilon, nylon, or silk, those are non-dissolvable materials that need to be removed.
Where Your Stitches Are Placed
The location of your stitches is one of the strongest indicators. Dissolvable sutures are the standard choice for internal layers: muscle, tissue beneath the skin, and areas that heal relatively quickly. If you had abdominal surgery, a C-section, oral surgery, or a tonsillectomy, the deeper stitches are almost always dissolvable. Surgeons also commonly use them for lacerations inside the mouth, wisdom tooth extractions, and repairs to muscle or fascia.
Visible stitches on the surface of your skin are more likely to be non-dissolvable, especially on the face, where permanent sutures tend to produce a better cosmetic result. That said, some procedures do use dissolvable stitches on the skin surface, particularly in areas that are hard to access for removal or in children who might not tolerate a removal visit well. Stitches placed under the skin in a buried layer (sometimes called subcuticular stitches) are nearly always dissolvable.
What Dissolvable Stitches Look Like
If you can see your stitches, their appearance offers some useful clues, though it’s not foolproof. Dissolvable sutures are often clear, white, cream-colored, or light tan. Some have a slightly translucent quality. They may also be dyed violet or undyed, depending on the brand. Non-dissolvable sutures tend to be blue, black, or dark green, and they often look and feel stiffer or more like fine fishing line or thread.
Texture matters too. Dissolvable stitches are frequently braided (woven from multiple strands), which gives them a slightly softer, more flexible feel. Non-dissolvable sutures like nylon or polypropylene are typically a single smooth strand. However, silk sutures are also braided and non-dissolvable, so texture alone isn’t definitive. Color and texture together, combined with what your paperwork says, give you the most reliable picture.
How Long Dissolvable Stitches Take to Disappear
Dissolvable stitches don’t vanish overnight. Depending on the material, they can take anywhere from about 6 weeks to over 6 months to fully absorb. The fastest-dissolving types lose their strength within a couple of weeks and are completely gone in roughly 42 days. Mid-range materials dissolve in 56 to 70 days. The slowest varieties, used in tissues that need prolonged support, can take 6 to 8 months to fully break down.
Harvard Health Publishing notes that the body absorbs most dissolvable stitches in about 60 days. During that window, you may notice the stitches becoming softer, thinner, or more fragile before they disappear entirely. Some people never notice the stitches dissolving at all, while others find small pieces working their way to the surface.
What “Spitting” Stitches Look and Feel Like
Sometimes a buried dissolvable stitch gets pushed toward the skin’s surface before it fully dissolves. This is called “spitting,” and it’s surprisingly common. You might notice a small, firm bump along your scar, a tiny poke of thread coming through the skin, or a localized spot of redness or irritation. This can happen weeks or even months after surgery.
A spitting stitch can look alarming, but it’s usually a sterile inflammatory reaction rather than an infection. Your body is simply rejecting the material and pushing it out. True infection involves a broader set of symptoms: fever, chills, spreading redness around the wound, increasing pain, warmth, swelling, or thick yellowish drainage. If the irritation is limited to a single small spot with a visible thread end, it’s more likely a spitting stitch. Don’t try to pull it out yourself. A healthcare provider can trim or remove it quickly.
Caring for Your Stitches at Home
Whether your stitches are dissolvable or not, wound care is largely the same in the first few days. You can typically shower 24 hours after surgery unless you were told otherwise. Clean the area gently with mild, unscented soap and water. Avoid scrubbing directly over the stitches, soaking in a bath, or submerging the wound in pools or hot tubs until it’s fully healed.
If your wound is covered with adhesive strips (Steri-Strips), let them fall off on their own. If the edges start curling up, trim them with clean scissors rather than peeling them off, which can irritate healing skin. For dissolvable stitches specifically, resist the urge to pick at or pull loose ends. If a stitch is bothering you or feels like it’s poking out, a provider can remove it safely. Dissolvable stitches can be taken out early without any problem; they just don’t have to be.
When You’re Still Not Sure
If your paperwork doesn’t specify and you can’t tell from looking, call the office where your procedure was done. The surgical team keeps records of exactly which suture material was used. This is especially important if you’re past the two-week mark with visible stitches and no removal appointment on the calendar. Non-dissolvable stitches left in too long can cause scarring, skin marks, or irritation, so it’s worth a quick phone call to confirm.