• Ultra-tension-reducing suturing plus fractional CO₂ laser effectively prevents facial trauma scars • Early postoperative laser intervention enhances cosmetic outcomes • Early intervention strategy for emergency facial trauma debridement To investigate the efficacy and key operational points of the ultra-tension-reducing suturing technique combined with postoperative fractional CO₂ laser therapy in the debridement of emergency facial trauma. From October 2021 to April 2023, a total of 89 patients with facial trauma were admitted to the Hospital for debridement and cosmetic suturing. All patients received local infiltration anesthesia with 2% lidocaine plus 1:200,000 epinephrine. Following meticulous intraoperative debridement and wound edge trimming, the ultra-tension-reducing suturing method was employed. Tension-reducing sutures were placed at each tissue layer of the skin and subcutaneous tissues to achieve precise alignment and restore anatomical relationships. Sutures were removed 5–7 days postoperatively, and topical anti-scar medications along with skin tension-reducing tapes were applied. Two weeks post-surgery, patients were followed up using the Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) to assess scar formation, and fractional CO₂ laser (monthly × 4) started. Follow-up continued to 6 months with repeat VSS, patient satisfaction, time off work and adverse events recorded. Data were analyzed by t-test. Out of the 89 patients, 72 completed the 6-month follow-up and underwent up to four sessions of fractional CO₂ laser treatment. Post-treatment VSS scores (1.8 ± 1.34) were significantly improved compared to pre-treatment scores (5.13 ± 1.23) (t = 22.724, P < 0.05). Sixty patients reported being very satisfied, while 12 reported being generally satisfied; the average time off work was 9.2 days. Adverse reactions included wound redness in six patients, pigmentation in three patients, and mild scar hyperplasia in eight patients—all of which improved after treatments such as medication injections. the ultra-tension-reducing suturing technique combined with early postoperative fractional CO₂ laser therapy presents a promising clinical strategy for mitigating scar formation following acute facial trauma in emergency settings.
Liu et al. (Sun,) studied this question.