Surgical staplers are medical devices that may be used in place of sutures to close surgical wounds or incisions. The staplers themselves are often made of plastic and can either be disposable or reusable. However, they don’t look like regular office staplers. Instead, they’re similar in appearance to commercial-grade construction staplers. As for the staples, they’re often made out of either steel or titanium for maximum strength.

Why Are Surgical Staplers Used?

In general, surgical staplers are used for larger surgical wounds both internally and externally that stitches may not be able to handle. The C-section is a common procedure for which surgical staples are used, as it may help reduce scar tissue and healing time. Staples may also be used to connect or reconnect organs within an organ system — such as after removing a part of the digestive tract to reconnect it.

Some doctors prefer staples over sutures, arguing that they are faster (staples are placed instantly) and easier to use than sutures. The FDA also lists low infection risk and minimal tissue reaction as advantages of this method. Additionally, surgical staple strength may offer advantages for larger surgical wounds.

Caring For Surgical Staples

Surgical staples must be removed (discussed below). However, they remain in your body for up to two weeks, depending on the procedure.

Caring for surgical staples correctly during this time is vital to healing properly and minimizing the chance of complications occurring.

Surgical Staple Removal

Unlike sutures, the body does not absorb most surgical staples (excluding the polylactide-polyglycolide copolymer staples). Internal staples are sometimes designed to be left inside the body permanently, or an absorbable type of staple is used.

Aside from these cases, a doctor must remove the staples after sufficient healing has occurred. Removal is usually not painful, but patients should not attempt to do so themselves. Removal must be performed in a sterile environment, and doctors use a special tool to remove them.

Despite the benefits of surgical staplers discussed above, patients may encounter numerous problems during the staple application, post-op recovery, or removal. These include:

• Opening of the wound
• Poor staple application (too much or too little force)
• Incorrect staple placement location
• Jammed, misfired staple, or failure to fire a staple
• Damaged, broken, or malformed staples
• Using incorrectly-sized staples given the application
• Failure to remove a staple that is designed to be removed
• Allergic reaction to staple material

Any of these and other problems could increase recovery time and pain during recovery at best. At worst, they expose the patient to significant health risks.