Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Oct;13(5):943-4.
doi: 10.1111/iwj.12413. Epub 2015 Mar 19.

Easy and cheap way to prepare skin extenders

Antonio Stanizzi  1 , Caterina Tartaglione  2 , Elisa Bolletta  2 , Matteo Gioacchini  2 , Manuela Bottoni  2 , Davide Talevi  2 , Giovanni Di Benedetto  2
Affiliations

Easy and cheap way to prepare skin extenders

Antonio Stanizzi et al. Int Wound J. 2016 Oct.

Abstract

Skin extender is a very useful method to repair wounds when oedema and skin retraction make a direct suture impossible. We have developed a new, simple and cheap way to prepare skin extenders based only on elastic vessel loops and metal clips stapler commonly used for skin suture and available in any operating room. This simple method can be performed both in the operating room and at the patient bedside, even under local anaesthesia, causes no bleeding and appears to be inexpensive and rapidly usable and should be made readily available in any hospital.

Keywords: Skin extenders; Wound.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Wound after debridement and fasciotomy in a diabetic foot. The metal staplers are placed on the wound margin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
After one week, the wound margins are completely approximated by the skin extenders.
Figure 3
Figure 3
One month postoperative. A little skin graft has been used to repair the wound's portion where skin extenders were not applied.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Skin extenders applied after coverage of the exposed tibial fracture by medial gastrocnemius muscle flap.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Three months after surgery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Blomqvist G, Steenfos H. A new partly external device for extension of skin before excision of skin defects. Scand J Plast Reconstr Surg Hand Surg 1998;27:179–82. - PubMed
    1. Voinchet V, Magalon G. Repair of skin defects by skin extension procedures. Ann Chir Plast Esthet 1996;41:563–71. - PubMed
    1. Bjarnesen JP, Wester JU, Siemssen SS, Blomqvist G, Jensen NK. External tissue stretching for closing skin defects in 22 patients. Acta Orthop Scand 1996;67:182–4. - PubMed
    1. Hirshowitz B, Lindenbaum E, Har‐Shai Y. A skin‐stretching device for the harnessing of the viscoelastic properties of skin. Plast Reconstr Surg 1993;92:260–70. - PubMed