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V O L 4 2019 I S S U E

FRUGAL FUNDAS FRUGAL FUNDAS

The sutures were removed after 3 weeks. The
patient is currently under follow up as there is reported the use of the Sure-Closure skin-
still a muscular defect of 5 cm below the suture stretching device (The MedTech Group, Inc.,
line which needs closure and reinforcement at South Plainfield, NJ) to achieve primary wound
a later date. closure of surprisingly large defects with good
aesthetic results. This technique distributes
So coming down to the cost of the consumables, tension more evenly along the wound edge.
each of the straps costed less than Rs.5 to make The investigators discovered that stretching
and the reticulated black foam costed Rs.100. occurred within 20 to 30 minutes when both
So the entire cost of consumables was approx. subcutaneous and cutaneous tissues were
Rs. 200. But more importantly, I feel this simple normal. However, stretching was considerably
technique avoided extensive procedures which slowed by chronic edema and fibrosis
were difficult to execute in this patient due to secondary to the pace at which collagen fibres
multiple reasons. realign. The Sure-Closure skin-stretching
system is relatively expensive ($450.00 per
Discussion device), whereas our method costed under $4.
One of the earliest reports on the use of a Abramson et a described an alternative to
skin-stretching device for wound closure was the Sure-Closure skin-stretching system
published in a book about war injuries by in a different setting that mimics the
Sir Harold Gillies in 1920. This technique was technique presented here. The method
not revisited until 1993 when Hisrhowitz et al used a rib approximator and 18-gauge spinal

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