title: Complete closure using a double purse-string closure for skin defects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purse-string closure is useful to repair the round or oval defect. However, difficulty may exist in the achievement of complete closure of the relatively large defect.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  A new technique was proposed which could redistribute the tension around the defect and achieve a complete and simple closure.
  
  
  METHODS
  For 17 surgical defects following skin tumor, the double purse-string technique was performed. A midline interrupt suture was placed vertical to the skin relax tension line. Then, the original defect was split into halves and both smaller defects were closed with the pure-string suture.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All skin defects were closed completely, and there were no complication occurrences for the repair postoperatively. The final cosmetic appearance was excellent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The double purse-string suture is a useful technique to achieve complete closure of the defect with a resulting excellent appearance. The authors have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters.
authors: Plastic Surgery Department, Beijing An Zhen Hospital of The Capital University of Medical Science, Beijng, People's Republic of China. cc.ll.80811@163.com
authors: Huang
authors: H
authors: Lin
authors: Wenzhi
authors: W
authors: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000601:surgery*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D013536:Suture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013537:Sutures; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing; D055815:Young Adult