Video narration
How can a tiny thread help a cut on your finger heal? You know how a Band-Aid covers a cut? Stitches help in a different way: they bring the cut's two sides close, so the skin can stay together. Before stitching, a doctor cleans the cut and may numb the area to help you feel less while the doctor works. Then the doctor carefully uses a tiny needle and thread to bring the skin edges together. But the thread doesn't make new skin. Your body does. As your body slowly repairs the skin, stitches help stop the cut sides from moving apart. Healing takes time, so stitches don't make a cut vanish right away. Some cuts don't need stitches at all. So how does that tiny thread help? It holds the skin steady while your body heals the cut.