Outcome of surgical zipper technique

• Published in: Journal of the National Medical Association Vol. 98; no. 1; pp. 83 - 85
• Main Authors: ONUMINYA, John E, ALUFOHAI, Ewan, ONUMINYA, Dorcas S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thorofare, NJ Slack 2006; Elsevier Limited; National Medical Association
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Cicatrix - epidemiology; Female; General aspects; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Surgical Wound Infection - epidemiology; Suture Techniques - instrumentation; Treatment Outcome; Wound Healing; Prognosis; Treatment; scar; surgical zipper; Surgery; Evolution; Tropical medicine; Technique; surgical skin wounds
• ISSN: 0027-9684; 1943-4693

In the period between March 2003 and February 2005, we carried out a randomized controlled prospective study to evaluate the outcome of the surgical zipper technique in closing 50 clean surgical skin wounds in our centers. The gender, age and wound distribution were similar for the surgical zipper study group and the conventional nylon suture control group. The outcome of scar was rated as good if the emerging scar was a thin, linear (< 2 mm wide) scar and bad if it was a broad, flat (> 2 mm wide) or a heap-up scar. The outcome of scar was good in 43 (86%) in the study group as compared with 21 (42%) in the conventional control group. The observed difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p < 0.05). We observed superficial wound infection in two (4%) in the study group, compared with 12 (24%) in the conventional control group. The outcome of our study clearly showed that the surgical zipper is a superior technique of closing surgical skin wounds, and we recommend its use in our environment.