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Scar outcomes in dermatological surgery
Author(s) -
Kim Burcu,
Sgarioto Melissa,
Hewitt Daniel,
Paver Robert,
Norman Julia,
FernandezPenas Pablo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
australasian journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.67
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1440-0960
pISSN - 0004-8380
DOI - 10.1111/ajd.12570
Subject(s) - medicine , hypertrophic scar , fibrous joint , surgery , abscess , granuloma , trunk , granuloma formation , pathology , ecology , biology
Background/Objectives Significant functional impairment and psychological burden may result from poor scar quality and its impact on patient's quality of life has been well‐established. It is important to identify measures to reduce the risk of surgical complications . Method 212 patients undergoing dermatological surgery were recruited from March 2011 to February 2014. Their age, sex, surgical site, closure type, defect size (length and width), scar length, number of deep sutures, suture type and size were recorded. The patients were followed up at 6 weeks and 6 months for complications including abscess formation, granuloma formation, scar spreading, suture spitting and hypertrophic scar formation. Results At 6 weeks complications included suture spitting (14%), granuloma (11%), scar spreading (7%), hypertrophic scarring (3%) and abscess formation (1%), and at 6 months; scar spreading (17%), hypertrophic scarring (2%) and suture spitting (1%). In our multivariate analysis there were no predictors for spreading or spitting at 6 weeks, and only the defect size width was a predictor for granulomas in the stepwise analysis. For scar spreading at 6 months, younger age, site (trunk or limbs), higher number of deep sutures and surgeon were independent predictors ( P < 0.0001 for the model). Conclusion Complications following dermatological surgery are low and tend to resolve with time, except for scar spreading. The surgeon who experienced more complications was placing sutures more superficially to the skin surface and was throwing more knots per closure; factors that we did not record in our study and merit further study.