Minimizing surgical skin incision scars with a latex surgical glove
So-Eun Han1, Suk-Tae Ryoo, So Young Lim
1Department of Plastic Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 135-710, Korea.
Background:
The current trend in minimally invasive surgery is to make a small surgical incision. However, the excessive tensile stress applied by the retractors to the skin surrounding the incision often results in a long wound healing time and extensive scarring. To minimize these types of wound problems, the authors evaluated a simple and cost-effective method to minimize surgical incision scars based on the use of a latex surgical glove.
Methods:
The tunnel-shaped part of a powder-free latex surgical glove was applied to the incision and the dissection plane. It was fixed to the full layer of the dissection plane with sutures. The glove on the skin surface then was sealed with Ioban (3 M Health Care, St. Paul, MN, USA) to prevent movement. The operation proceeded as usual, with the retractor running through the tunnel of the latex glove.
Results:
It was possible to complete the operation without any disturbance of the visual field by the surgical glove, and the glove was neither torn nor separated by the retractors. The retractors caused traction and friction during the operation, but the extent of damage to the postoperative skin incision margin was remarkably less than when the operation was performed without a glove.
Conclusion:
This simple and cost-effective method is based on the use of a latex surgical glove to protect the surgical skin incision site and improve the appearance of the postoperative scar.
Level Of Evidence V:
This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .
