[Focus on skin pre-suturing. Apropos of 12 cases]

Presuture is a rapid skin expansion technique performed in a 2-stage operation. On the day before the operation, a square of skin sutures is inserted along the lesion to be invaginated, under local anaesthesia. Resection with direct suture can be performed on the following day. Twelve patients presenting with extensive (3 x 3 cm to 7 x 24 cm) lesions of the lower limbs (3 congenital naevi, 7 melanomas, 2 areas of scar tissue) were treated. The scar results were excellent in 2 cases, inter-mediate in 8 cases and poor in 2 cases. The limits of this technique are the risk of malunion due to ischaemia and especially secondary enlargement of the scar.