When suture are removed from an incisional surgical wound at the end of one week, the wound strength of the wounded skin when compared to unwounded skin approximately?: (A) 50%, (B) 80%, (C) 1%, (D) 10%
Answer is D. When sutures are removed, usually at 1 week, wound strength is approximately 10% of that of unwounded skin, but this increases rapidly over the next 4 weeks. Wound strength reaches approximately 70% to 80% of normal by 3 months but usually does not substantially improve beyond that point.