Assessment of Pain, Healing Time, and Wound Contraction in Postoperative Auricular Defects Healing Secondarily With...

Postoperative auricular defects heal well with secondary intention healing (SIH); however, potential complications include postoperative pain, perichondritis, and chondritis.

To compare postoperative pain and wound healing in auricular defects healing by secondary intention with and without the placement of a porcine xenograft.

Twenty-one subjects were enrolled in the study. The primary outcome was self-reported pain, measured on a 0 to 10 scale for 14 postprocedure days. Secondary outcomes included time to greater than 90% of reepithelialization and degree of wound contraction.

There was a 1 to 2 point difference in median pain scores between the porcine graft and control groups during postoperative days 4 to 7, 12, and 13. Time to 90% or greater reepithelialization was not statistically different between groups (p = .94). The average wound contraction was 34.1% for the porcine group and 34.0% for the control group (p = .95).

In this pilot study, overall pain scores were low in both groups. Placement of a porcine xenograft resulted in a slight reduction of median pain compared with traditional SIH. Patients in the control group were more likely to require analgesics. Similar rates of reepithelialization and degree of wound contracture were observed.