engineering

Vicryl

Vicryl is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Vicryl rather than just read about it. In short: Vicryl (polyglactin 910) is an absorbable, synthetic, usually braided suture, manufactured by Ethicon Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. A monofilament version is also made for use in ophthalmic practice.

Key takeaways

Vicryl belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Vicryl to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Vicryl from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Vicryl (polyglactin 910) is an absorbable, synthetic, usually braided suture, manufactured by Ethicon Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. A monofilament version is also made for use in ophthalmic practice. It is indicated for soft tissue approximation and ligation. The suture holds its tensile strength for approximately two to three weeks in tissue and is completely absorbed by acid hydrolysis within 8-10 weeks. Vicryl and other polyglycolic-acid sutures may also be treated for more rapid breakdown ("Vicryl Rapide") in rapidly healing tissues such as mucous membrane or impregnated with triclosan ("Vicryl Plus Antibacterial") to provide antimicrobial protection of the suture line. Because Vicryl is slow-absorbing and often braided, its use is contraindicated in the closure of any cutaneous wound exposed to the air, as it draws moisture from the healing tissue to the skin and allows bacteria and irritants to migrate into the wound. This may lead to high reactivity to the contaminants, poor wound healing, and eventually infection. Although the name "Vicryl" is a trademark of Ethicon, the term "vicryl" has been used generically referring to any synthetic absorbable suture made primarily of polyglycolic acid. Other brands of polyglycolic acid suture include PolySyn, Surgicryl, Polysorb, and Dexon, all of which are manufactured by different companies. Vicryl is a copolymer of lactide (a bislactone of lactic acid) and glycolide (a bislactone of glycolic acid). In practice, Vicryl comes braided, dyed or undyed with the following decay schedule: 75% at two weeks, 50% at three weeks, and 25% at four weeks (i.e., the sutures retain that proportion of tensile strength at those dates).

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vicryl

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vicryl claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Vicryl before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Vicryl ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Vicryl

In research: Vicryl appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Vicryl in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Vicryl is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Surgery stubs, Surgical suture material, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vicryl outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Vicryl in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vicryl means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Vicryl out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vicryl in simple terms?

Why does Vicryl matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Vicryl?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Vicryl.