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The Value of Medical Needling in Burn Scars

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Handbook of Burns Volume 2

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Abstract

We aim to show that deeper needling of skin (1–3 mm depth) is a valuable tool for treating people with burn scars. Currently, numerous ablative cutaneous treatments and surgical procedures are the mainstay of treating burn scars. Needling takes us to a new paradigm of instigating a regenerative phase to remove scar collagen and replace it with normal lattice-patterned collagen, thereby reducing the appearance of nodular hypertrophic scars and contractions. This occurs because skin needling causes perforation of blood vessels and an automatic cascade of platelet-derived growth factors. The dominant growth factor is TGF-β3 which surges after needling in a way not seen in normal adult tissues but which is the usual pattern found in foetal regenerative wound repair. By repeating needling treatments, one can flatten hypertrophic/burn keloid scars and soften contractures and get closer to the ideal treatment of scars. The authors believe that skin needling should be done reasonably soon after the initial injury.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aust Aesthetik, Landsberg am Lech, Germany

    Matthias Aust

  2. Renaissance Surgical Clinic, Cape Town, South Africa

    Desmond Fernandes

  3. Department for Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery/Hand Surgery, Bergmannsheil Buer, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

    Richard Bender

Authors
  1. Matthias Aust
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  2. Desmond Fernandes
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  3. Richard Bender
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Lars-Peter Kamolz

  2. Ross Tilley Burn Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Marc G. Jeschke

  3. Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery, University Hospital of Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Raymund E. Horch

  4. Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery, Evangelische Elisabeth Klinik Krankenhau, Berlin, Germany

    Markus Küntscher

  5. Department of Burns & Reconstructive Surgery, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

    Pavel Brychta

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Aust, M., Fernandes, D., Bender, R. (2020). The Value of Medical Needling in Burn Scars. In: Kamolz, LP., Jeschke, M.G., Horch, R.E., Küntscher, M., Brychta, P. (eds) Handbook of Burns Volume 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34511-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34511-2_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34510-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34511-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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