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11. Use of silicone cushions in the treatment of hypertrophic
scars
Tosa Y, Hosaka Y, Tsutsumi K, Satoh Kaneshige, Yokoyama T
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Showa University
School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
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There are many unknowns in the treatment of hypertrophic scars and
keloids, including the mechanism of their pathologic condition, and the
means to resolve them. Therefore various treatments are being tried. We
used silicone cushions in the treatment of hypertrophic scars and report
our experience of this potentially useful clinical approach.
Silicone cushion consists of dimethyl-poly-siloxane silicone rubber with
a methylphenyl base. Our subjects were patients with hypertrophic scars,
and our evaluation was based on the report by Hirshowitz et al.
Objective findings and subjective symptoms were scored and the degree of
improvement evaluated. The presence or absence of adverse reactions was
also evaluated.
Owing to use of the silicone cushions, all subjects showed clinical
improvement. These cushions—enclosing high-viscosity silicone oil within
the silicone capsule—are designed to generate a static electrical field
with a negative charge. It has been suggested that static electricity
plays a role in the involution of hypertrophic scars, and that the
generation of an appropriate and sustained static electrical field is
necessary to attain a useful clinical effect. Here we present a
description of our cases, together with a discussion. |
