Body taping for contour surgery.
BACKGROUND
Preoperative marking is of primary importance in body contouring and when precise simulation of skin excisions is difficult. Because the "cut as you go" principle can be delicate, especially in patients after massive weight loss, a simple and quick method is needed for preoperative planning. We suggest an approach that helps visualize the optimal skin incision lines and simulates the postoperative result by body taping.


METHODS
Twelve patients who underwent abdominal contouring, including classic and vertical abdominoplasties as well as dog ear and scar revision, were prospectively analyzed. The skin to be excised was preoperatively folded, taped, and then marked. The area marked was measured and compared with the actual intraoperatively resected area and the postoperative result was evaluated after 1 year by the patients and three surgeons.


RESULTS
With body taping, an 83% congruence between the preoperative planning and the surgery was obtained and only two patients had additional skin resected. No wound dehiscence and flap necrosis occurred and patients as well as surgeons scored the final body contour positively.


CONCLUSIONS
Body taping is a simple, quick, and economic method for planning contour surgery with high accuracy as demonstrated by the low rate of intraoperative changes of the planned resection and low complication rate.
Kalbermatten
Daniel Felix
DF
Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, University Hospital of Basel, 4031, Basel, Switzerland. daniel.kalbermatten@bluewin.ch
Wettstein
Reto
R
Erba
Paolo
P
Rieger
Ulrich Michael
UM
Pierer
Gerhard
G
Raffoul
Wassim
W
D000328:Adult; D004954:Esthetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015187:Lipectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D050507:Subcutaneous Fat, Abdominal / Q000601:surgery; D053832:Surgical Tape; D015431:Weight Loss