Shortening of Incision by “Pinch and Turn-Over Technique” in the Treatment of Axillary Osmidrosis

Abstract

Background

The pinch and turn-over technique was developed to minimize the incision in the manual subdermal excision of apocrine glands in axillary osmidrosis for the best cure and fewest complications.

Methods

Through a 2-cm-long incision, peripheral subdermal tissue was excised by the technique under direct vision using intravenous anesthesia and tumescent technique. Ninety-nine axillae in 50 patients including seven secondary cases were operated on from 2009 to 2018. Long-term follow-up (average 30.3 months) could be done on 40 patients with questionnaires consisting of four-point ordinal-scale questions regarding osmidrosis grade, hyperhidrosis grade and satisfaction. For systematic review regarding incision length, 220 articles from 1962 to 2018 were reviewed with the search terms “osmidrosis” or “bromhidrosis.”

Results

Thirty-five and 30 of 40 respondents (87.5% and 75.0%) had excellent or good postoperative results in osmidrosis and hyperhidrosis grade. Postoperative improvement of osmidrosis grade (from 2.53 to 0.80) and hyperhidrosis grade (from 1.88 to 0.95) was statistically significant (p < 0.01). Thirty-four patients (85.0%) reported very satisfactory or satisfactory. Hematoma (2.0%), hyperpigmentation (5.0%), infection (5.0%) and noticeable scar (2.5%) were rare. Necrosis of flap margins was frequent (27.3%) but necessitated revision in two cases (2.0%). Among eleven articles found to describe incision length in pure manual subdermal excision, this technique provided the shortest incision compared with eight direct subdermal excision methods with an average incision length of 5.0 cm.

Conclusions

This technique offers an open, direct and selective approach with a short incision. It could maintain the best efficiency while neutralizing negative side effects of conventional manual subdermal excision for axillary osmidrosis.

Level of Evidence IV

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