When can I use steri-strips instead of suturing?

[Angry Birds]

Can anyone give guidelines as to when steri-stripping is sufficient?

Thanks.

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[pianoman511]

Why steri-strip when you can dermabond ?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Steri-strips or Dermabond/Histacryl/Octyseal/whatever are fine for superficial shallow wounds.

Suture if:

- deep dermis has been violated (ie, into subcutaneous fat)
- the wound continues to bleed from the edges
- the wound crosses a joint or other place of tension
- the patient is unlikely to keep it clean

Make sure if your do use glue or tape to close that the edges are clean and fresh (ie, debride raggedy edges) without gaping. Do not stretch the strips and cause skin necrosis/tears; this is especially common in areas prone to ptosis (ie, breasts and abdomen that are lying nice and flat on the gurney but then take a fall toward the floor when the patient stands).

 

[Birdstrike]

Can anyone give guidelines as to when steri-stripping is sufficient?

Thanks.

You can use steri-strips alone, when doing nothing would work just as good.


Here's one tip that steri-strips are awesome for, though:

Ever tried to dermabond a lac, and you have the wound edges together perfectly, you start to glue it and the patient moves and as the glue is going on the wound, the edges shift just enough that you are not happy, and since you just payed glue you can't really fix it without getting glue in the wound?

Take a lac that you know will likely close well with dermabond. Let's say, a very small face lac on a kid. Sterilize and gently irrigate as you normally would (but not so aggressively to trigger bleeding or cause pain), dry with gauze until all bleeding stops. Pull the wound together with steri-strips. Take as much time as you need to get the would edges together perfectly, as good or better than if you sutured. Then dermabond over the perfectly steri-stripped wound with your glue.

This gives you the advantage of being able to take your time perfecting the closure, before you lay the glue, while keeping the wound edges approximated just how you want them as the glue dries.

The steri-strips then just peel off with the glue as it normally does.

 

[Arcan57]

Skin tears in the elderly.

 

[Angry Birds]

Thanks for the replies! Very helpful.