Adhesive strips improve cosmetic outcomes for sutured upper extremity incisions
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Compared with typically more expensive tissue adhesive, adhesive taping resulted in improved cosmetic outcomes for sutured patients undergoing upper extremity surgery, according to published results.
In a single-blind prospective randomized controlled trial, Thomas J. McQuillan, MD, and colleagues analyzed 44 patients (mean age of 63 years) who were assigned to receive either tissue adhesive (Dermabond, Ethicon) or adhesive taping (Steri-Strips, 3M) to reinforce wound closure after upper extremity surgery. According to the study, the most common procedures were open carpal tunnel release and thumb carpometacarpal arthroplasty. Two hand surgeons assessed the scars at 3 months using a scar assessment questionnaire and blinded photographs.
Overall, researchers found statistically significant improvement in questionnaire scores among patients who received adhesive taping, with the greatest improvements seen in color and size. Additionally, the adhesive taping cohort reported “slightly better” overall cosmetic outcomes compared with the tissue adhesive cohort.
“Adhesive strips provide a modest but significant improvement in cosmetic outcomes vs. more expensive tissue adhesive,” McQuillan and colleagues wrote in the study. “Future evaluation of closure methods that evaluate cost, speed of application, suture technique, and dressing will optimize scar appearance,” they wrote.
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