The Significance of Home Care Wound Management after Dermatologic Surgery

Gye, Jiwon; Hong, Seung Phil; Kim, Myunghwa; Park, Byung Cheol

Abstract

BACKGROUND
As the number of dermatologic surgical procedures increases, home care wound management is growing in frequency.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and surgical site infection rate of home care wound management according to the use of oral antibiotics and the characteristics of the wound and of the patient.
METHODS
Our study included 207 patients that had undergone a dermatologic surgical procedure and the subsequent management of their wounds in the home. We checked overall infection rate of home care wound management and compared the result according to the use of oral antibiotics. We evaluated surgical site infection rate after we classified each surgical wound based on age, sex, surgical method, site, size, and depth. In addition, we surveyed efficacy of home care wound management.
RESULTS
Overall surgical site infection rate was 1.86%, and the infection rate was not significantly different between the group that utilized home care wound management without oral antibiotics and the group with oral antibiotics (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference of surgical site infection rate according to sex, age, wound's size and depth (p>0.05). However, patients with younger age, male sex, greater size, and depth of wounds showed a numerical increase in surgical site infection rate. Staged partial excision for nevus sebaceous in scalp showed significantly higher rate of surgical site infection (p<0.05). In our survey, most patients preferred home care wound management after dermatologic surgical procedures and patients were able to perform the wound care well.
CONCLUSION
We expect to utilize home care wound management after dermatologic surgical procedures, provided that physicians appropriately educate patients and their caretakers on proper dressings.