Open AccessA novel way to treat skin tears
Author(s) -
Moradian Scott,
Klapper Andrew M
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international wound journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1742-481X
pISSN - 1742-4801
DOI - 10.1111/iwj.12426
Subject(s) - medicine , wound closure , tears , surgery , negative pressure wound therapy , wound healing , pathology , alternative medicine
Skin tears are one of the most commonly treated wounds in the elderly population. In their most basic form, they are essentially traumatic random pattern flaps. We postulate that the injured blood flow to these skin flaps should be ignored and the tissue should be treated as a skin graft. A case report is presented of an 86‐year‐old female with an 8 × 3·5 cm skin tear to her right upper extremity after a hip fracture. In addition to conventional wound closure strips re‐approximating the tissues, a disposable negative pressure wound therapy device was placed to act as bolster. Upon its removal on day 5, the opposed skin tear tissue was found to be 100% viable. We therefore propose that this update may be an improvement over classical skin tear treatments and should be followed up with a case series.