Thursday, March 25, 2010 Barbara asks

Q: Allergic to the Moh's surgery absorbable sutures.

Had the Moh's surgery on Feb.8,2010 with Dr. Ron Moy in Los Angeles.Had a terrible reaction.The stitches became very red and raised. Thought it was the steri strips.Turns out I was allergic to the absorbable sutures! Was told to put on polysporin (Had been using Aquaphor ONLY) which made it even worse. They then gave me a cortisone cream.The scar is taking forever to calm down and heal. I would like to do laser.Hate this red stitches scar on my face. Two questions.

Has anyone else been allergic to the sutures? ( which are animal gut)

How long do I have to wait to do laser?

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Answers (1)

Merely Me, Health Guide

3/27/10 1:54pm

Hi Barbara

I am so sorry this happened to you!

In researching your question this seems to be a rare complication but it does happen. Here is some information about surgical complications you might want to read and especially this part: "An allergic reaction to suture material is a rare complication. Hypersensitivity to chromic catgut suture is the most commonly reported reaction ; however, allergies to silk and nylon sutures have also been reported. Patients suspected of suture allergy should be patch tested to guide future treatment."

Now that you know this about yourself always tell your doctors this before any more surgery.

I would ask your doctor about how long you have to wait to do the laser treatment. They are the only people who can give you an answer on that.

Good luck to you and please tell us how you are healing in the weeks to come.

Barbara

3/27/10 6:26pm

Thank you so much fora getting back to me.. YOu are so great about that. I see you respond to somany people and it is so APPRECIATED!!!!

So.. went in to Dr. Moy yesterday..there were STILL some sutures which hadn't dissolved. He took them out and did some vein lasering.( He also felt,as opposed to 2 other Dr's in his office, I was NOT allergic to the sutures but to the polysporin.. but I know the terrible redness and bumpiness started BEFORE I started using the polysporin!!! )

The wound is still healing and not quite ready for any scar procedures. He said to wait another 3-5 weeks and suggested Dermabrasion rather than Laser because the scar is already quite red, and feels Laser would make it worse. I know some people have said NO to dermabrasion. When I told him that he got a little defensive.. saying 'You want to listen to them or to me?'.... Hmm.. Guess I'll have to do some more research on that one.

In the meantime.. thanks for letting me know the kind of sutures.. I did ask them that..( am terribly ALLERGIC to cats and was wondering if they were cat gut sutures).. they said "No" they are animal gut but not CAT.. and that there is no test for that.At least I can now tell Dr's I had the reaction and go from there.

Now I just wait another 4 weeks to do any scar procedure. However,since the other stitches are out it is looking so much better even today!!!!!

Will keep you posted... And any imput on Laser or Dermabrasion????

Thanks,

Barbara

Merely Me, Health Guide

3/28/10 1:16pm

Hi Barbara!

I really appreciate that you wrote back to let us know what is going on. I have been thinking about you and in researching about the sutures I did find this:

Dr. William Ting, a Bay Area Dermatologic surgeon, says that sometimes what may be considered a wound infection is really an allergic reaction to topical antibiotics. Dr. Ting states that: "More and more dermatologic surgeons are moving to just plain vaseline or Aquaphor for post-op wound care as there is significant prevalence of allergy to neomycin, bacitracin and/or polysporin." The suggestion is made that if you experience excessive itching or pain days after your surgery to contact your Mohs surgeon so they can determine the cause and if your wound is healing properly.

So who knows?

About treatment for your scar... This was an article written by our Doctor Kevin Berman entitled: "Mohs Surgery: What will the Scars Look Like?"

Here is an excerpt from that article:

"Silicone pads may help prevent hypertrophic (thick) scars although there is still no way to guarantee a perfect scar. Vitamin E containing creams and other creams designed to aid scarring may help but none have definitively been proven to aid the final outcome. If the scar is thicker than expected, you can talk with your surgeon about "dermabrasion" in which the skin is effectively "sanded down" to smoothen it and make the scar thinner. Scar revisions can also be performed in which the scar is excised or re-oriented to improve the final outcome."

So he definitely talks about dermabrasion.

I would need to research more about each of the treatments to tell you any more. I would trust your doctor as he knows what he is talking about. But it is always wise to also be an informed patient and research everything. You are the one who must live with the results so make sure you get what you want.

Good luck and please let us know what happens! And thank you again for writing back.

Barbara

9/26/12 2:49am

Here's an update as to my Moh's surgery scar from 2010. It never did totally heal properly. Perhaps as a result of the allergy to the gut sutures or the polysporin. I have had 4 treatments for the red veins that appeared around the scar. I even purchased special scar strips recommended on the Internet. There are also small bumps along the scar line & the stitches lines are still noticeable,as well as a discoloration & loss of pigment along the scar line. There was also a dog ear at the very end of the scar line. None of these results were terrible,but there are noticeable to ME &my livelihood has me on camera. I recently returned to see Dr.Ron Moy,who did the Mohs surgery. He stated he was not at all happy with the noticeable scar left on my face ( along the nasolabial fold) & recommended that a scar revision be done,combined with a laser treatment.( he is also a Cosmetic Plastic Surgeon) THIS time he will be using non absorbable stitches which will have to be removed in 3-5 days So...tomorrow is THE DAY. It's been 2 years since the original procedure & I was hoping the scar would fade in time & the dog ear improve,but it hasn't. ( at least not to MY & DR.MOY's satisfaction) Keep you posted Keep you posted. He says Iit should greatly improve the scar

Q: Allergic to the Moh's surgery absorbable sutures.

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