Possibilities of scar treatment after thoracic surgery

During a ten year observation period it was found that scar formation after thoracic surgery is influenced by various factors: metabolism, operative technique and factors of a general nature. On the basis of these findings, a study was carried out to investigate the effect of the scar-specific Contractubex gel (Merz+Co., D-Frankfurt/Main), containing 10% onion extract, 50 U sodium heparin per g of gel and 1% allantoin, in the treatment of children who underwent thoracic surgery and to evaluate its effect on scar development. Before and during the six-month treatment period, both macromorphology and scar colour were assessed; furthermore, a global evaluation of the therapeutic result was made. Additionally, the scars were characterized after a six-month treatment-free follow-up period. The results of 38 Contractubex-treated and 27 untreated patients were compared. In the treated scars, the global evaluation of the therapeutic result was better than in the untreated scars. In the Contractubex group, the rating was "good" and "very good" in 84% of cases, as compared to 59% of the untreated cases. In the treated group, the increase in scar size was markedly lower than in the untreated patients. The treated scars showed a tendency towards quicker paling than the untreated scars. In the treated group, the conversion of primary physiological scars to unphysiological scars (hypertrophic or keloidal scars) was less frequent than in the untreated group. The tolerability of the product was very good in 37 of the 38 treated patients, and good in one patient. All scar-specific effects of Contractubex continued to persist after the end of treatment.