THE GRANULOMETER - A POCKET SCALE FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF WOUND-HEALING

In spite of the availability of high-tech devices for wound assessment , plastic surgeons recognize that the color and confluence of granulat ion tissue are the most important indicators of open-wound healing, We developed a simple and inexpensive pocket-size scale-the Granulometer -to facilitate a finer assessment and to standardize the documentation of wound healing. This device overcomes limitations set by conditions such as lighting oi recent exposure to other wounds that could distor t the examiner's perception of the wound in question. In this Study we examined the inter- and intraobserver variations in judgment, and the validity of the Granulometer. Our results demonstrate that skin graft viability can be predicted accurately by this eight-grade scale. Sinc e graft survival depends bn proper wound healing, we believe that the Granulometer can alsb be used for fine assessment of bound treatment. The low inter- and intraobserver variations indicate that the Granulom eter measurements are both reproducible and accurate.