Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Skin stretching for primary closure of acute burn wounds.
In burn care, a well-acknowledged problem is the suboptimal scar outcome from skin grafted burn wounds. With the aim of improving this, we focused on a new technique: excision of the burn wound followed by primary closure, thereby using a skin-stretching device to stretch the adjacent healthy skin. The short- and long-term effect of Skin Stretch was compared to split skin grafting (SSG) in a randomized controlled trial. ⋯ Skin Stretch for primary closure of acute burn wounds is a suitable technique and can be considered for specific circumscript full-thickness burn wounds. However, future research should be performed to provide additional scientific evidence.