Intradermal buried vertical mattress suture as sole skin closure: Evaluation of 149 cases

Various buried suture techniques have been reported for dermatological surg ery, but in most cases, superficial non-absorbable sutures are placed addit ionally. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the intradermal buri ed vertical mattress suture can be safely used without additional skin sutu ring. Following 149 procedures in 126 patients, the colour and dehiscence o f the scar and the presence of hypertrophy, granulomas or keloids were anal ysed. The cosmetic results were excellent to good in 78.5%, satisfactory in 19.5% and poor in 2%. Single additional superficial sutures had to be plac ed in only 14.7%. Suture marks were absent. Hypertrophic scarring was signi ficantly more frequent in scars sutured with polyglactine than in scars sut ured with polydioxanone. Early wound dehiscence, secondary wound healing an d infection due to missing superficial skin sutures did not occur. This sut ure technique is safe, easy and fast to perform, and achieves good cosmetic results without leaving suture marks.