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Outpatient Surgery E-Weekly

Contact Congress Over Drug Shortage Issues

A Kentucky congressman is urging surgical facilities to contact their members of Congress and request that they sign his letter demanding changes to...

N.J. Posts ASC Inspection Reports Online

State and federal inspection reports of New Jersey's ASCs are now available online, giving patients an opportunity to make more informed choices abo...

Are Opioids Necessary?

While it's not always practical, or even possible, to eliminate opioids from your post-op pain management regiment, reducing their use in favor of n...

Archive > June, 2008 Vol. IX, No. 6

A Scar is Born

Creating the best possible scar begins before you pick up a scalpel.

Richard Vagley

Many years (uh, decades) ago, about midway through my general surgery residency, one of my co-residents and I performed a below-knee amputation on an elderly, diabetic, hypertensive gentleman. In order to minimize operative time, each of us closed one half of the resulting stump. My co-resident used larger-caliber, vertical mattress suture to close his half of the stump, while I, aspiring to a career in plastic surgery, decided to use a "plastic closure" that I hoped would leave the patient with the best scar possible. I employed a layered closure technique using smaller- caliber, dissolvable simple suture in tiny, non-crushing bites designed to create a "kissing," not "scrunched," closure of the surgical wound edges.

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Categories: General Surgery, ENT, Infection Control, Orthopedics, Cosmetic Surgery, Other Surgery, Office Surgery, Bariatric Surgery
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