External Quilting: New Technique to Avoid Haematoma in Gynaecomastia Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Haematoma after gynaecomastia surgery is the most common early complication. It may necessitate a return to the theatre and cause increased infection risk, poor wound or delayed healing, and abnormal scar. Strategies to avoid haematoma range from perioperative blood pressure control to the use of tranexamic acid and compressive dressings. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate a new technique that would avoid haematoma or limit its expansion should it occur, after gynaecomastia surgery. METHODS: One hundred and forty-nine patients had surgery for gynaecomastia between 2018 and 2019 by the senior author. External quilting sutures are used to obliterate any dead space following liposuction and piecemeal excision to address fatty, stromal, and glandular components. No drains are used. Patients receive cooling therapy before discharge, and they reattend clinic the following day for suture removal. RESULTS: Two patients had haematomas which were managed conservatively and healed well. Fine suture tracks, which were observed in another two patients, became unnoticeable at 3 months. Overall, the complication rate in our cohort was 2.7% (haematoma 1.3%, temporary suture track 1.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Our method is useful in minimising haematoma. It limits expansion of haematoma should it occur. Suture track is the other transient complication. This new technique in gynaecomastia correction is simple, yields good results, and gives the surgeon another option to deal with haematoma. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

The outcomes of digital tip amputation replacement as a composite graft in a paediatric population.

UNLABELLED: Limited studies exist on the outcome of replacing an amputated fingertip as a composite graft. We report the outcomes and predictors for composite graft survival along with the long-term morbidity. A retrospective review of all patients <16 years who underwent composite graft replacement of an amputated fingertip was performed. Long-term morbidity was evaluated through a standardized parental questionnaire. A total of 120 patients were identified, of whom 97 were eligible for inclusion. Parental questionnaires were completed for 42 (43%) patients. There was a 10% complete and 34% partial graft survival rate. Patients aged ⩽4 were significantly more likely to have complete graft take than those >4. Of the patients, 17% developed post-operative complications; 48% of patients reported a hook-nail deformity and 17% reported cold intolerance. Only 5% of patients reported any functional difficulties long term. The rate of complete composite graft survival in a paediatric population is low, although the long-term function of these patients is good. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.