ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE@#To analyze the clinical application value of adjustable skin retractor in large area of limb wound defect in children.@*METHODS@#From January 2017 to January 2019, 11 children including 9 males and 2 females, aged 4 to 12 (8.3±2.7) years old with severe lower extremity wound defects were treated with adjustable skin stretch and closure device, all of them were unilateral lower extremity large area wound defects, including 4 cases of limb skin defect caused by traffic accident, 3 cases of failure to close after osteofasciotomy and decompression, 3 cases of plate exposure after internal fixation of lower extremity fracture and 1 case of ischemic necrosis after debridement and suturing of skin avulsion. The width of the wound was (5.6±1.2) cm and the length was (7.0±1.6) cm. VSD negative pressure drainage and expanded suture were used in all the patients. Four of them had been treated with free skin graft and two had been treated with local flap transfer. The graft or flap operation failed, and the effect of the early treatment was not good.@*RESULTS@#After 5 to 14 (10.5±2.6) days of continuous traction, the wound was closed and no skin grafting or flap repair was performed. No complications such as poor blood supply, skin infection and necrosis, peripheral sensory disturbance occurred. All 11 patients were followed up for 3 to 18 (8.9±3.8) months. The wound edge skin was linear healing with slight scar.@*CONCLUSION@#It is in accordance with Wolff's law and the concept of natural tissue reconstruction to treat large-scale limb wound defects in children with adjustable skin stretch and closure device, which provides an effective method for the treatment of limb skin and soft tissue defects in children.