I'm not the doctor

I feel I have to say something, as looking at my blog search terms there are just too many people finding this blog by searching out things like "how to stitch myself".

I'm deeply saddened that those terms lead to this blog, I guess I can't really change it. But I can respond to it.
I wrote a post about how bad it is to be stitched in A&E with no anaesthetic, where I included pictures and descriptions of stitching. I deliberately left out certain details because 1) I am not a doctor and 2) I didn't want it to turn into a self-stitching lesson. I was horrified to find someone had linked to that post on another blog with the tag "how to stitch yourself if you don't want to go to A&E". I requested it be taken down straight away. To my knowledge that's the only time it's happened but I'm still concerned about the number of people who continue to find this blog by searching for instructions or tips.

I'd never suggest anyone stitches themselves. There is just far too much to go wrong.

You can't be sure you know which suture material and type/size of needle is best for the wound.

You don't know if you're inserting the needle in the right place in relation to the cut: too far away and the skin will buckle, too close and it could pull through your skin the same way you can rip out an earring.

Infection, infection, infection. So many ways to accidentally introduce infection, from dodgy materials to dodgy technique to not cleaning the wound properly to plain old you're not qualified! You might think a small infection is fine and copeable, but (i) are you going to go to your GP for antibiotics with stitches you've done yourself? and (ii) it can take just a few hours to go from "oh look this is a mild infection starting" to "Yes I'm in hospital being pumped full of drugs to try to not only save my life but stop my leg falling off too". I've been there and it was plain awful.

You don't know what sort of stitches to do. There are a zillion different types of stitches and they each have a function. Do you know them all enough to make an informed decision?

You might not bring the edges together evenly, resulting in poor healing (ooh look, more infection risk) and really ugly scarring.

Your wound might not need stitching at all, or it might need something else done to it first such as debridement, or it might need more than stitches such as surgery. No matter how foolhardy you are with a needle and thread, you won't be able to repair a severed tendon.

You might need something totally different like glue or staples.

You might need a tetanus booster or antibiotics or something else.

You might pull the stitches too tight and unintentionally kill some of your own flesh.

You can't get anaesthetic unless you're a doctor, so it will hurt to buggery.

There are a zillion more reasons... but isn't that enough for now?


I'm not preaching. I'm not the sort of person who tells people to go to A&E for a paper cut. I respect that for those of us who are not medically qualified a little knowledge and experience goes a long way and we can often deal with things beyond what might be ordinarily expected. I also believe we should share this knowledge where it would be useful to do so. I appreciate that for those of us who self-harm there are reasons for it and I've never tried to prevent anyone from injuring themselves. I advocate self-care; I'll gladly have a discussion about what's better between Inadine and Bactigras, and where you can get cheap steristrips. I'll talk about what harm-minimisation has taught me; such as how to recognise when you cut an artery or vein, or something like a tendon or nerve, and how to minimise that happening and what to do if it does happen. [For more information about harm minimisation, please read the amazing books Cutting The Risk and The Hurt Yourself Less Workbook, available to download free here].
But I draw the line at stitching. If you want to stitch yourself, go ahead; I wish you wouldn't but I can't stop you. But I want to make it clear that I do not claim to give suturing lessons. This is not a blog that aims to instruct people to carry out specialised procedures in their own homes. If you want that, go and get yourself a medical degree. But don't come here, that's never been what this blog is about and goes directly against what I believe in.

Alanis Morissette - Not the Doctor [see what I did there?]