A common thread in Johnson & Johnson’s storied century-plus history is its commitment to innovation in healthcare. One of its most revolutionary inventions? The mass production of sterile surgical sutures, which forever changed the field of medicine, and helped improve the outcomes of patients going into the operating room for the better.
The revolutionary product first appeared in a Johnson & Johnson cash book (a business ledger listing inventory and expenditures) as “ligatures” in January 1887. Since then, suture innovation has continued at the company, leading to a long string of follow-up products that are changing the surgery game in their own right.
This infographic spins the full tale of the great history—and exciting future—of those signature sutures.
