Skin stretch suturing with Nice knots in the treatment of small- or medium-sized wounds

BACKGROUND: To investigate the clinical efficacy and outcomes of skin stretch suturing with self-locking sliding Nice knots in the treatment of small- or medium-sized wounds. METHODS: From June 2015 to May 2018, 26 patients with small- or medium-sized wounds were included in the present study. Skin stretch suturing with self-locking slide Nice knots was performed to gradually close the soft-tissue defects in these patients. The time of wound closure and healing was recorded. The color and blood supply of the skin, cutaneous sensation, the stretch of skin, and the hair growth situation of the skin wound were observed and recorded. RESULTS: There were 17 males and 9 females with an average age of 30.65 years (range, 15-48 years). The areas of the soft-tissue defects were between 3.2 × 7.1 cm and 8.0 × 15.2 cm. All patients underwent stretch suturing with self-locking slide Nice knots to close the soft-tissue defects. All wounds were successfully closed and healed. The mean time of wound closure was 10.69 days (range, 5-20 days), and the mean time of wound healing was 16.85 days (range, 10-24 days). The cutaneous sensation of skin wound recovered normally, and the color of the skin wounds was the same as that of normal skin at the last follow-up. The hair growth situation of the skin wounds also returned to normal. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that Nice knots yielded an accepted clinical result as a new method to close small- or medium-sized wounds that was simple and less minimally invasive, resulted in progressive tension, did not return to previous results, and partially replace flaps or free skin grafts.