Background: Linear hypertrophic scarring is a common surgical problem that can be difficult to manage. This article evaluates median sternotomy wounds that have often been reported to scar poorly resulting in hypertrophic scar formation.
Methods: This study is a single-blinded, open-labelled pilot study of 20 patients using keratin gel as the intervention and aqueous cream as the control, which are each applied to a different half of the wound daily over 6 months. We use the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) and the Manchester Scar Score (MSS) to assess the scarring.
Results: At the 6-month assessment the MSS, patient-POSAS and observer-POSAS were 12.00, 16.70 and 15.00 in the treatment half and 12.58, 17.85 and 16.55 in the control half respectively. Overall, we found that there was a decrease in all score scales after 6 months (P = 0.005). Furthermore, in the subset of patients with poor scarring, decreases in the MSS, patient-POSAS and observer-POSAS were statistically significant (P = 0.025, <0.01 and 0.01) with scores of 12.22, 17.33 and 15.33 in the treatment half and 14.22, 23.67 and 22.33 in the control half respectively.
Conclusion: In patients who scar more poorly than average, there were significant improvements in scarring. This demonstrates a simple, well-tolerated intervention that reduces problematic scarring following surgery.
Keywords: cosmesis; scarring.
© 2014 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.