W-plasty in Scar Revision: Geometrical Considerations and Suggestions for Site-specific Design Modifications

A large proportion of scars in clinical practice represent good candidates for surgical revision by virtue of their unfavorable characteristics and relative orientation with respect to skin relaxed tension lines. W-plasty is a very popular excisional revision technique, which involves breaking up the scar margins into small triangular components, which are advanced and interdigitated without any rotation or transposition.

We performed an extensive literature search using Pubmed MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Embase using the following keywords [W-plasty] AND [scar] AND [revision]. We retrieved 13 articles pertinent to the indications, geometrical design, and technical evolution of the W-plasty scar revision variants. We formulate indications for the use of isosceles/equilateral as opposed to scalene triangle W-plasty and integrate our experience with regards to the choice of geometrical design for different bodily regions.

W-plasty represents a popular technique in reconstructive plastic surgery practice. We believe that the exact W-plasty design should be guided by the relaxed skin tension line definition and to this effect propose 2 main variants of geometrical design pertinent to the index anatomical site.