The sticker-type temperature indicator in digital replantation: simplified application.

A sticker-type skin-surface temperature indicator, commercially available in Japan, has been utilized to monitor temperature changes in replanted digits. In clinical application, the authors evaluated several shortcomings in some of these devices. For example, the 10-mm diameter indicator is too small for numbers to be seen clearly. The 18-mm diameter indicator is too large to patch onto the finger pulp. To improve this device, the authors used only the number 33 from the 18-mm diameter indicator and applied it to several study subjects. Judgments about the circulatory status of the replanted digit can be made on the basis of the indicator color. The 18-mm diameter indicator, now modified to use only the number 33, is in common use for all the authors' digital replantation cases. Clinicians' ability to see critical temperature changes has been markedly improved, even under poor lighting conditions.