Sutures

About sutures

Sutures are thread that holds wound edges together; absorbable surgical gut, plain or chromic, is a sterile, flexible thread the FDA puts in Class II. Surgical gut, both plain and chromic, is prepared from the serosal connective tissue layer of beef intestine or the submucosal fibrous tissue of sheep intestine, and the FDA puts it in Class II with special controls. A polyglycolide suture is synthesised from homopolymers of glycolide, may be monofilament or multifilament, uncoated or coated, and undyed or dyed. Silk suture is a non-absorbable multifilament thread composed of an organic protein called fibroin, derived from the domesticated species Bombyx mori, and may be braided or twisted. Nylon suture is a non-absorbable thread prepared from the long-chain aliphatic polymers Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6, and may be monofilament or multifilament.

Thread that holds the wound edges together: absorbable materials progressively lose tensile strength as they degrade, while non-absorbable ones remain in place until removed and can provide prolonged mechanical support. A review reports that braided sutures generally handle well and hold knots securely while the spaces between their filaments may let microbes gather, and that monofilaments have smoother surfaces and fewer such niches but greater memory and lower surface friction, which can make handling more technique-sensitive.

Sources: FDA 21 CFR 878.4830, Absorbable surgical gut suture (CFR 2025, govinfo) · FDA 21 CFR 878.4493, Absorbable poly(glycolide/l-lactide) surgical suture (CFR 2025, govinfo) · FDA 21 CFR 878.5030, Natural nonabsorbable silk surgical suture (CFR 2025, govinfo) · FDA 21 CFR 878.5020, Nonabsorbable polyamide surgical suture (CFR 2025, govinfo) · AlQranei et al. 2026, Beyond sutures: a focused review of contemporary concepts in periodontal wound closure (Biomater Investig Dent)