THE LATE APPEARANCE OF SCARS AFTER BURNS IN CHILDHOOD

The late appearance of scars in children who had been burned, mainly s calded (n = 82, 90%) were analysed retrospectively from patient record s and by clinical reassessment. All 91 patients who were reexamined ha d primarily sustained a burn of at least 5% of their total body surfac e area (TBSA). Only five patients showed no visible scars. The median interval between primary injury and re-examination was 17.3 years (ran ge 6.4-30 years). Less than half of the patients (n=36, 40%) had disti nct scars without hypertrophy. The remaining 55 (60%) had either hyper trophic or constrictive scars. The scars were mostly located on the tr unk (29%) and looked mainly hypertrophic (30.2%). The mean area of sca rs varied from 0.47% (on the neck) to 3.73% (on the left lower Limb). There was no significant association between the appearance of the sca r and any given method of treatment. The late cosmetic results were be tter than anticipated.