Follow-up report on burned hands, treatment plans

A patient initially seen more than a decade ago with deep second-degree burns on both hands returns for long-term follow-up to determine the extent of damage present after regeneration of the dermal-epidermal elements. At the time of his burns, the patient had undergone a nonsurgical treatment program designed to prevent deformity and to protect the unburned and regenerating epithelium. Multiple biopsies done during the follow-up examination demonstrated that the regenerated skin could not be differentiated, on gross histologic examination, from normal skin.