Often a laceration (cut) needs stitches to bring the two sides of skin closer together. Some stitches need to be removed, but others dissolve on their own. Most cuts will leave a small scar. A healing cut can get infected, so the health care provider cleaned it carefully. You can help to prevent infection by taking good care of the cut as it heals.

• Keep the cut as dry as possible for at least 24 hours. Sometimes stitches need to stay dry for longer, so follow the care team's directions. Until the stitches can get wet, you can gently wash the skin around the cut with a clean damp cloth.
• When the stitches can get wet, your child may shower or take a sponge bath, then gently pat the cut dry.
• Don't soak the skin. Your child should not take a bath or go swimming until the stitches are removed.
• You can give medicine for pain if your health care provider says it's OK. Use one of these medicines exactly as directed:
  • acetaminophen (such as Tylenol^® or a store brand)
    OR
  • ibuprofen (such as Advil^®, Motrin^®, or a store brand). Don't give to babies under 6 months old.
• If your health care provider recommends it, spread a thin layer of antibiotic ointment over the cut, then cover with a bandage.
• Some mild redness around the cut is normal. Check every day to make sure the red area is not getting bigger.
• If your child's stitches need to be removed, or if absorbable stitches last longer than the provider said, take your child to your health care provider as directed. Leaving the stitches in place too long may cause more scarring.
• Make sure your child's tetanus vaccine is up to date.
• When you or your child apply sunscreen, be sure to put it on the scar. This will help protect the scar from burning and prevent it from getting darker.

• Your child has redness, warmth, or swelling around the cut. This could be the start of an infection.
• Red streaks are coming from the cut.
• Pus is draining from the cut.
• The edges of the cut start to separate.
• Your child develops pain or a fever.
• The stitches have started to come out or the cut is opening up.

The cut starts bleeding and doesn't stop, even after you apply light pressure.

Why do health care providers stitch cuts? Some small cuts can heal on their own. But for cuts that are large, wide, or bleeding a lot, health care providers need to use stitches to bring the edges of the cut closer together (called closing the cut).

What will happen to the stitches? Some stitches need to be removed by a health care provider. How long stitches need to stay in the skin depends on the kind of cut and where it is. Absorbable stitches dissolve on their own. Sometimes small white sticky tapes called butterfly bandages are put over the stitches to give them extra strength. These tapes loosen in a few days and fall off on their own.

Why does a cut get a scar? When the deeper layer of the skin is injured, the body uses a protein (collagen) to help fill in the cut area. The filled-in area becomes a scar. A scar can form even if a cut is fixed with stitches. Over time, some scars fade or get smaller.