Surgical treatment of traumatic cutaneous substance losses. Apropos of 100 cases
Benhamla, A.; Joucdar, S.
Annales de Chirurgie Plastique et Esthetique 31(2): 157-162
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0294-1260 PMID: 2429603 Document Number: 277114
The authors report their experience in the surgical management of skin injuries treated over the past three years by the plastic and reconstructive surgery department of the Douera Hospital Center. Etiologically, these injuries are found more in men (71 per cent) and, more especially, young adult males (43 per cent under 20 and 78 per cent under 40). In 85 per cent of cases, they result from road accidents, and in 10 per cent from accidents at work. Anatomicopathologically, the injuries vary considerably in extent, sometimes involving an entire limb, especially the lower limbs (85 per cent in our series), and more particularly, the legs and feet. In most cases (63 per cent), the lesions are associated with fractures (of tibia or femur). The frequency of combined foot and leg injuries underscores the vulnerability of the skin in this area, and the precarity of of the vascularization of the leg. Therapeutically, the authors have mainly relied on classical methods (preparation of a sound bed, covered by split skin, full thickness or mesh grafts). Occasionally (in 11 cases) they had recourse to local or distant autoplasties. They conclude by drawing attention to the gravity of residual trophicity problems of the lower limbs and the need to treat them by elastic retention for at least a year after cicatrization.