title: Future management of scarring.
abstract: Future growth and development of plastic and reconstructive surgery will push forward on all fronts, from the prevention of injury to improvements in primary and secondary wound closure, healing, surgical planning, instrumentation, and techniques. Current technology is on the brink of promoting rapid healing and preventing scar formation at the cellular level by affecting the healing process. Tissue engineering has the potential of creating new tissue with the potential to closely approximate missing or damaged tissue from a biopsy of the original. The next generation of reconstructive surgeons may approach traumatic wounds in a completely different fashion, with computers, growth factors, and cell cultures as opposed to a scalpel and suture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Penn State University, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA 17033-0850, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schweinfurth
mesh_terms: D002921:Cicatrix / Q000601:surgery*; D005145:Face / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000639:trends*; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology