Plastic Surgery Product Review: Embrace Scar Device
Scars remain a challenging problem. This is demonstrated by the sheer number of scar treatment products and strategies that exist, all of which claim to offer improved scar outcomes. A new scar device, called Embrace by Neodyne Biosciences, has released study results which show improvement in abdominoplasty scars. The Embrace device is an FDA-approved single-use adhesive silicone sheet which is applied to the incision/scar with a disposable applicator that transfers a predetermined amount of strain to the sheet. This device employs the concept of mechano-modulation (active compressive strain) to the injury site. This unique method of action provides a uniform compressive strain or stress-shield around the wound closure which can minimize collagen formation and scar widening. Abdominoplasty scars were used for the study because of the large amount of tension that is known to exist across the closure site. This is a good test for a scar device whose purpose is to offload the tension on the healing scar. In 28 abdominoplasty patients studied for six months after surgery, expert blinded evaluations of the scar appearance between the Embrace-treated vs the standard-of-care treated incision sites showed consistently better results with the Embrace treatment.
This device has already received FDA-approval in September 2011 and this released study is done in preparation for market release later this year. While this scar device has demonstrated benefit in high-tension scars, it is interesting as to whether it offers similar benefit in scars exposed to less tension. But what really matters in effective scar treatment is those wound closures that are predisposed to hypertrophic scarring or those scars undergoing surgical revision.
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Dr. Barry Eppley