Which suture type is designed to provide extra strength for high-tension wounds?

• A. Retention
• B. Continuous
• C. Intermittent
• D. Blanket continuous

Answer: (A)

When a wound is under high tension, the goal is to take most of the pulling force away from the wound edges and distribute it through deeper tissue. Retention sutures accomplish this by passing through deeper layers away from the wound and often using skin bolsters to spread pressure, so the main skin sutures don’t cut through and pull the edges apart. They act as an extra reinforcement that shares the load, reducing risk of tearing and dehiscence while the wound heals.

The other patterns describe how the sutures are arranged (continuous or intermittent) or a specific way of running a line of sutures, but they don’t inherently provide that deep-tissue reinforcement for high-tension wounds. Retention sutures are the design specifically chosen to provide that extra strength.