Are sutures better than staples for closing skin for C-sections?

According to a recent randomized trial of 746 women having cesarean sections, closing skin incisions with staples resulted in a 10.6% incidence of wound complications, compared to 4.9% of the women closed with sutures. Put another way, suturing was associated with a 57% reduced risk of wound complications.

As usual, naive media, including The New York Times, accepted the study's findings without reservations. Also as usual, I did not.

Here's why.