Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Sustainable effect of skin stretching for burn scar excision: long-term results of a multicenter randomized controlled trial.
Primary wound closure of large defects after burn scar excision may be facilitated by intraoperative stretching of the adjacent skin. In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), the effect of skin stretching for wound closure after scar excision (SS) was compared to scar excision without additional techniques (SE). Short-term results already showed that in the SS group larger scars could be excised in a one-step procedure. In this paper, the long-term scar outcome using reliable and valid measurement tools was evaluated. ⋯ This RCT demonstrates the long-term beneficial and sustainable effect skin stretching for wound closure after scar excision without leading to wider linear scars or more scar hypertrophy.