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Comparison of Silicone Sheets and Paper Tape for the Management of Postoperative Scars: A Randomized Comparative
Ying-Sheng Lin1, Pei-San Ting, Kuei-Chang Hsu
1Ying-Sheng Lin, MD, MPH, is a resident; Pei-San Ting, MSc, is a research assistant; and Kuei-Chang Hsu, MD, is Attending Physician, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan. Acknowledgments: The authors appreciate the support and cooperation of the patients in this study, who were referred by Dr Wen-Shiung Liou, Dr Fu-Nan Cho, Dr San-Nung Chen, Dr Kuan-Hao Tsui, and Dr Ju-Yueh Li in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. A version of this article was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgery in Los Angeles, California, in September 2016. The authors have disclosed no financial relationships related to this article. Submitted March 28, 2017; accepted in revised form December 19, 2017.
Objective:
To compare the effectiveness of silicone sheets and paper tape in the prevention of postoperative cesarean section scars.
Methods:
Patients undergoing horizontal cesarean section were included in this randomized controlled trial. Surgical wounds were divided into two halves. Patients randomly applied silicone sheets or paper tape to each side of their wound as assigned for 3 months. Wounds were assessed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. Researchers used the objective Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) to evaluate the scars and the subjective visual analog scale (VAS) to evaluate itch, pain, and scar appearance.
Results:
No significant differences between the silicone sheet and paper tape groups were noted at postoperative follow-ups with respect to VSS scores. The silicone sheet group had significantly better VAS scores for scar appearance than the paper tape group at 6 (6.81 ± 1.47 vs 6.19 ± 1.62, P = .03) and 12 (6.88 ± 2.01 vs 6.2 ± 2.08, P = .04) months' follow-up, respectively.
Conclusions:
The silicone sheet group showed statistically significant differences in comparison with the paper tape group in terms of scar appearance as determined by the VAS. However, the differences were too small to be clinically meaningful.
