[First applications of matrix therapy in plastic and aesthetic surgery]

A new medical device based on a concept of the reconstruction of the extracellular matrix by a molecule belonging to the family of the ReGeneraTing Agents (RGTA(®)) has just been available to treat skin lesions. RGTA(®) are biodegradable polymers engineered to mimic heparan-sulfate in the extracellular matrix of damaged tissue. RGTA(®) improves tissue healing in several animal models, by stabilizing and protecting heparin-binding growth factors (HBGFs) and matrix proteins. We have evaluated the effects of this device containing RGTA(®) on cutaneous cicatrisation in a group of patients treated by reduction mammoplasty and in a group operated by a centrofacial lifting.

Seventeen patients who underwent mammoplasty for breast hypertrophy received cutaneous application of the device at D1, D4, D8 and D11 on one breast. Quality, color, inflammation of the scar and eventual complications have been evaluated by photography and at the third postoperative month by the Vancouver Scar Scale. Another group of 50 patients that underwent a centrofacial lifting received a bilateral deposition of drops of RGTA(®) in the operating plane at the end of the surgical procedure. Discomfort, oedema, ecchymosis and inflammation of the scars have been evaluated at 1-month postoperative and compared with an identical group of 50 other patients, operated by the same surgeon without RGTA(®).

In the group of mammoplasties, inflammation, prurit and hypertrophic scars were less frequent for the breast treated by RGTA(®). The mean Vancouver Scar Scale has been lower in the treated group than in the control group. In some patients the pain, related probably to the local inflammation, has been less important for the treated breast. In the sequence of centrofacial lift at 1-month postoperative, scar inflammation, oedema and bruises were much less frequent in the treated group (10 %) than in the non-treated group (90 %).

Topical application of RGTA(®) seems to improve cutaneous healing in a group of patients operated for breast reduction and to reduce discomfort, ecchymosis and oedema in the group of centrofacial lifting. These results are concordant to the experimental results obtained and pilot studies results.