Knowing the surgical instruments and mastering the suturing technique is a basic skill that every general surgeon must master, so today we will take a look at the essential suturing techniques and surgical instruments for general surgery.

Scalpel
Blades: according to the shape, they are divided into round knives, curved knives and triangular knives, etc.
Knife handle: according to the size, length and type, the end is engraved with a number, commonly used is No. 4 knife handle.

Surgical scissors
tissue scissors: curved scissors, straight scissors, sharp and fine, can be used to dissect, cut and separate tissue.
Wire scissors: more straight scissors, the blade is blunt and thick, cut sutures, dressings and drainage.

Hemostatic forceps
Mosquito hemostatic forceps: used for fine surgery.
straight forceps: for shallow tissue hemostasis.
Curved forceps: for deep tissue, subcutaneous fat hemostasis.
Toothed forceps: for clamping thicker, easily slipped and tissues to be removed.

Suture needle
Suture needles are generally divided into angled needles, round needles and round blunt needles according to the tip of the needle.
angled needles (triangular needles): needles with triangular point body cross-section, strong penetration, easy to damage tissue, used for suturing skin or other tough tissues.
round needle: conical needle point, round smooth body, strong penetration, no cutting, used for general soft tissue and visceral suturing
Round blunt needle: round blunt tip, round smooth body, minimal tissue damage, used for blunt separation and suturing of brittle tissues.

Sutures.
sutures for suturing all types of tissues and organs and ligating blood vessels.
The thickness of sutures is indicated by number and zero.
Principle of use: try to use threads with fine and high tensile strength and minimal reaction to tissue.

Suturing
purpose: maintenance of mutual alignment of incision edges, elimination of gaps, facilitation of healing, hemostasis, reconstruction of organ structures or plastic surgery
Indications: surgical incisions, one-stage sutured incisions.
Contraindications: heavily contaminated, septic infected wounds.

8 types of sutures
simple interrupted suture: through the epidermis and dermis, through the subcutaneous tissue across the incision to the contralateral skin out of the needle, with each stitch individually knotted, for skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscle, fascia, peritoneum and other tissues.

simple continuous suture: the first stitch is tied at one end of the incision, followed by continuous suturing of the entire wound, with a stitch before the end, pulling out the heavy thread tail and leaving it on the opposite side, forming a double thread with the heavy thread tail tied, for wounds with elasticity and less tension.

The "8" suture: consists of two connected interrupted sutures, which are crossed on the deep or superficial side of the tissue and knotted to resemble the Arabic numeral "8", suitable for the suturing of tendons and ligaments or the suturing of larger blood vessels to stop bleeding.

interrupted inversion suture of the whole layer: mucosal inlet and plasma membrane outlet on one side, plasma membrane inlet and mucosal outlet on the opposite side, the knot of the thread is tied in the lumen while forming inversion, suitable for gastrointestinal anastomosis.

plasma-muscular layer interrupted inversion suture: plasma layer in, suture between plasma-muscular layer and mucosal layer, plasma layer out, across the anastomosis, contralateral plasma layer in, between plasma-muscular layer and mucosal layer, plasma-muscular layer out, knot tied, anastomosis intestinal wall inversion encapsulated, suitable for reinforcing the anastomosis after full-layer anastomosis of the gastrointestinal tract.

purse-string suture: small internal turning suture, circular continuous suture of the pulpy muscle layer for one week at the proposed embedding site as the center of the circle, with central internal turning embedding after ligation, applicable to the embedding of the appendiceal stump.

intermittent vertical mattress episiotomy suture: far in and far out, near in and near out, through the epidermis and dermis, through the subcutaneous tissue across the incision to the contralateral side, followed by a needle in proximal to the incision edge, and contralateral to the incision edge proximal to the incision edge, the plane connecting the entry and exit points should be perpendicular to the incision, for the more relaxed skin of the scrotum, axilla, groin, neck, etc.

interrupted horizontal mattress ectasia suture: through the epidermis and dermis, through the subcutaneous tissue across the incision to the contralateral side, then the suture is advanced parallel to the incision, then the needle is entered and the skin is pierced and knotted, suitable for repair of ruptured vascular holes, patch reinforcement of leaking vascular anastomoses.