[Modified purse string suture to reduce the size of surgical defect].

INTRODUCTION

Skin carcinomas require excision with clear margins. In the head and neck region, these excisions most often result in round or oval defects. Due to the big size of the defect and limited tissue elasticity, it is not always possible to close these defects in the same operation. We describe a technique to minimize the size of the defect.

TECHNICAL NOTE: It is an improved purse string suture technique. The purse string suture is realized with a circular continuous intradermal suture and is improved by three or four V-Y sutures, in order to reduce the skin defect.

DISCUSSION: It is an easy, fast and effective technique for decreasing the size of the skin defect and for speeding up the healing.