A Randomized Split-Scar Study of Intraoperative Treatment of Surgical Wound Edges to Minimize Scarring

For ablative resurfacing of surgical scars, the recommended time frame for treatment has remained relatively constant at 8 weeks postoperatively.¹ However, Strauss and Kligman² were aware as early as 1956 that dermabrasion to the wound edges at time of closure would improve the final appearance of sutured wounds. In 1980, Caver³ reported that dermabrasion to wound edges at the time of surgery had been used successfully in his practice for over 20 years. In recent years, 2 studies using ablative laser resurfacing of wounds at the time of closure have shown promising trends.^4,5 Ablative fractional resurfacing has been shown to quantitatively improve atrophic surgical and traumatic scars.⁶