Plastic and reconstructive surgery
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Skin grafting is a simple and common procedure for achieving wound closure. Despite its widespread use, there is little objective information about the outcomes of skin-grafted burn wounds. The purposes of this study were to determine the length of time it takes to achieve complete wound healing in split-thickness skin-grafted burn wounds and to identify factors that affect time to complete wound healing. ⋯ The authors' results suggest that most patients will heal skin-grafted burn wounds within 2 weeks. Meticulous attention to prevention of seroma, hypergranulation tissue formation, and malnutrition might decrease time to complete wound healing. Factors thought to influence time to complete wound healing, such as total body surface area burned, sex, age, graft type, and infection, did not significantly affect the authors' patient group.
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Plast. Reconstr. Surg. · Aug 2007
Comparative StudyAn evaluation of epidural analgesia following circumferential belt lipectomy.
Belt lipectomy combines traditional abdominoplasty with a circumferential excision of skin and fat, with resultant buttock and lateral thigh lifts. Because of the extensive nature of the procedure, postoperative pain management can be difficult. Epidural analgesia has been shown to be efficacious in treating postoperative pain. This study compares the postoperative use of epidural analgesia with more traditional pain management regimens in a large series of belt lipectomy patients. ⋯ Epidural analgesia is more effective than traditional pain control methods in reducing immediate postoperative pain in belt lipectomy patients. On the basis of these findings, epidural analgesia should also be considered for postoperative pain management in other truncal procedures.