Management of perioral burn scarring in the child and adolescent

The experience gained in the treatment of 116 patients with perioral burn scarring is presented. Important considerations are the choice of unit release or simple release, the choice of donor site to match the prevailing skin of the remainder of the face, and the timing of the reconstruction. Delaying the reconstructive procedure with the routine use of pressure appliances until the scar was mature produced a more pleasing final result. In addition, we found that modifying the traditional aesthetic unit excised to include darts when there was severe burning of the surrounding facial cheek skin with loss of natural nasolabial folds improved the final result and reduced the need for secondary revision.