Complete closure using a double purse-string closure for skin defects.

BACKGROUND: The purse-string closure is useful to repair the round or oval defect. However, difficulty may exist in the achievement of complete closure of the relatively large defect.

OBJECTIVE: A new technique was proposed which could redistribute the tension around the defect and achieve a complete and simple closure.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: For 17 surgical defects following skin tumor, the double purse-string technique was performed. A midline interrupt suture was placed vertical to the skin relax tension line. Then, the original defect was split into halves and both smaller defects were closed with the pure-string suture.

RESULTS: All skin defects were closed completely, and there were no complication occurrences for the repair postoperatively. The final cosmetic appearance was excellent.

CONCLUSION: The double purse-string suture is a useful technique to achieve complete closure of the defect with a resulting excellent appearance. The authors have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters.