The application of barbed sutures in body contouring surgery

Abstract

Even with the evolution of primary surgical techniques in body contouring, wound closure remains primarily traditional and has not advanced beyond the techniques followed in past decades. Streamlining wound closure would be the next advance for body contouring surgery. Absorbable barbed sutures offer a potential solution, and they are the subject of this review investigating the applications of absorbable barbed sutures in body contouring surgery. Barbed sutures hold tension as closure proceeds, theoretically decreasing the time required for wound closure, approximating dead space, and obliterating subcutaneous knots that may result in palpable, painful granulomas. Review of the literature reveals some evidence of time savings (in some cases significant and, in some, not); however, the literature also shows some wound complications from the use of barbed sutures, including infections and extrusions. Barbed sutures have not yet been conventionally embraced, and the technology will certainly continue to evolve in order to make the devices more desirable for plastic surgeons.

Keywords: barbed suture; body contouring; operative time; progressive tension; suture extrusion.