Dr. Lev prefers to use clear nylon inner stitches for tummy tucks and body lifts. This is because permanent clear nylon stitches do not produce any allergic reactions in the patient and the quality of the scars is the best. With dissolvable stitches, because they may dissolve faster than the completion of the healing process, which could be up to one year post-op, the scar is not as thin and beautiful as with the permanent stitches.

Now then. Sometimes, it happens that one or more of the permanent clear nylon stitches can poke out through the incision as the swelling subsides and they will have to be removed by a doctor or nurse, and in the USA that can be expensive. If you want the nylon stitches for the more attractive scar, it might be a good idea to line up a doctor, nurse, or urgent care facility before coming down to Costa Rica. That way if and when the nylon stitch/stitches poke through, you will already have someone who has agreed to remove the stitches after you return home.

Most patients don't experience this with nylon stitches, but recently we had a patient who had this happen to her a while after she returned home from Costa Rica. She did find a doctor who would remove the stitches and it was costly for her. She lives in New York so, of course, everything is more expensive on the east and west coasts. But even so, it's an extra expense one might have to incur and we like to give patients as much information as possible as they consider surgery in Costa Rica.

The other option for the stitches used for tummy tucks and body lifts as I mentioned above, is an absorbable stitch, but the scar may not be as good as with the nylon permanent stitches.

Please be sure to let Dr. Lev know which of the two choices of stitches you prefer when you are in front of him at your consultation appointment the day before your surgery. If you don't choose, his default stitches will be clear nylon.