Journal Reviews
The cost of surgery for bedsores
Many plastic surgeons will have experienced a heart-sinking moment when receiving a request to give an opinion on a patient with a bedsore. The surgery is not technically demanding, but the postoperative care and rehabilitation of the patient can be...
Poor glycaemic control associated with worse outcomes in primary wound closure
This study is the first to specifically investigate the effects of chronic and perioperative glycaemic control in high risk patients undergoing primary closure of wounds. Seventy-nine patients were included – 93% of closures were of the lower limb and only...
Infection and sepsis in burns: potential clinical predictors
In this retrospective study, the authors attempt to identify the most reliable predictors of early infection (within 10 days) in acute burns patients to try to reduce unnecessary antibiotic therapy. They recognise that infections and sepsis represent the leading cause...
Management of major burns – a role for Oxandrolone
Oxandrolone The authors present a retrospective single centre based study assessing the effect of Oxandrolone (OX) on the length of stay (LOS) following ≥15% of total body surface area (TBSA) burns. One hundred and sixty-seven surviving patients were retrospectively analysed...
Size does matter
Megasessions in hair restoration, being defined as transplantation of 3,000 or more grafts, have the potential to definitely treat a significant area of scalp in only one procedure, allowing the patient to achieve their desired goals while minimising their overall...
Caring for our patients: postoperative nausea and vomiting
This review article cites as its basis ‘The Consensus Guidelines for Managing Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting’, an international panel of experts’ evidence-based opinions, and the IMPACT Study. The pathophysiology, risk factors, and strategies for reducing postoperative nausea and vomiting (POVN)...
Measures against female hair loss
The author presents a detailed, well-structured review about female hair transplant surgery. Female hair pattern loss usually differs from male hair pattern loss, resulting in regions of the scalp where hair density falls without complete alopecia. Surgery for female patients...
Excisional margins for cutaneous malignancies
The authors present the results of a retrospective study of 495 non melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) lesions of the face treated with Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) over a six year period. The size of the lesion was calculated as the...
History of fat grafting
Fat grafting was first described in 1893 by Gustav Neuber, who transplanted adipose tissue from the arm to the orbit to correct depressed scars resulting from osteomyelitis. In 1895, Czerny reported excising a lipoma and grafting it into a breast...
Superficial lymphatics of the abdominal wall in lymphatic microsurgery
This elegant and beautifully illustrated article requires to be carefully studied in its entirety by any surgeon planning to carry out lymphovenous anastomoses or vascularised lymph node transfer in the groin area. As the authors point out, the most difficult...
How long should you wait for your adrenaline to work?
The authors present a prospective, randomised, triple-blind study to see how long it really takes to obtain the lowest cutaneous haemoglobin concentration after lignocaine with adrenaline injection. Twelve healthy volunteers were injected simultaneously in each arm with either plain 1%...
Descending branch peroneal artery perforator flap
Reconstruction of distal third defects in the lower limb is a challenge that often requires microsurgical free tissue transfer. The authors introduce a peroneal artery perforator flap based on the deep descending branch for reconstruction of lateral malleolar defects. They...
