Suturing – tension relieving suture patterns

Vertical mattress

Vertical mattress

you can start with the far bite or with the near bites

Horizontal mattress

Horizontal mattress with stents – clinical case

With a mattress suture, you can also place a simple continuous pattern. With this approach, you can remove the larger suture used for the mattress pattern after the skin stretches (3-4 days), leaving the more cosmetic simple continuous suture to finish the job.

Near-far-far-near

NFFN between stents – clinical case

You can change the letters around too

Resources

G Kelmer et al. Simple techniques to decrease tension on sutured wounds in horses, Equine vet. Educ. (2022) 34 (2) 67-72