Here’s a novel idea. Surgical suture material that is coated with either an antimicrobial drug (an antibacterial) or an anti-inflammatory drug that are released directly into the wound while it is healing and being held together by the suture. That’s right; one suture material holds together the deep layers of a wound while another holds together the skin edges. Imagine if the suture were coated with drugs that would ease incisional pain and prevent infection. These types of suture amazingly are already exist and are being used by surgeons every day.
Antimicrobial sutures are the most used of these specialized sutures. They are coated with triclosan, a synthetic antibacterial and antifungal compound that prevents bacterial and fungal growth. Other antimicrobial sutures contain chlorhexidine which is also found in Hibiclens, an antibacterial cleanser used to prep the skin for surgery. A study reported in 2025 found that wounds closed with triclosan-containing sutures were associated with significantly fewer infections than non-triclosan suture. Other drug-containing sutures “deliver anti-inflammatories” that help with pain and help prevent wound infections.
Then there’s a whole class of “smart sutures” which can “monitor the healing process in real time” and tell doctors if a wound is healing properly. They are designed with “biosensors” that monitor pH, temperature, glucose, or wound integrity. By some unexplained mechanism, they wirelessly transmit information so doctors can tell if infection is occurring or the wound is not healing.
“Color-changing sutures” are another type of “smart suture” that report if a wound is behaving properly. Shifts in the pH change the color of the suture and alert doctors to possible early infection. There are also “next-generation suture technologies” some of which contain stem cells that promote wound healing.
This is fascinating! “Smart sutures” that can tell if a wound is healing or becoming infected? That’s Buck Rogers science fiction kind of stuff, but I guess it’s not far from reality. This is the kind of thing I would never think of as a real product. But some already exist and others aren’t far off.
Reference: Pajer N. How Advanced Sutures Are Changing Wound Closure. medscape.com 2026 August 18.
