First-Day Removal of Skin Sutures

The closure of a skin incision following either surgery or trauma is often as varied a procedure as the number of men performing it. Since any method usually achieves eventual closure of the skin, irrespective of its final appearance, an attempt was made to reduce this procedure to the simplest form possible without changing any surgeon's individual technique. Acknowledging that the healing power inherent in the skin itself is the one factor common to all, to utilize this to its utmost with as little interference as possible should improve the final result. This healing process is initiated with the first stroke of the scalpel and proceeds to its termination in a day-to-day orderly process that refuses to be hurried. Requiring only two surfaces capable of union, this procession of events will usually continue as long as they are in apposition. Any foreign body interposed between these surfaces slows, stops, or