Semin Plast Surg 2005; 19(2): 137-142
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-871729
Copyright © 2005 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA.

The “Nordström Suture” to Enhance Serial Scalp Reductions and Other Serial Excisions as Well as to Treat and Prevent Scar Widening

Rolf E. A. Nordström1
  • 1The Nordström Hospital of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Helsinki, Finland
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
29 June 2005 (online)

ABSTRACT

The “Nordstrom Suture” started with our interest in tissue expansion, which resulted in quite several publications and an international textbook in this field. We became very familiar with biological and mechanical creep. Expanders and extenders were our main tools and we tried to find solutions to the problems we had with them. This led us to the development of the Nordström suture. The main indications for us for the suture so far have been (1) enhancement of serial reductions of bald scalp, burn scars, and so on; (2) prevention of scar widening in situations where proper plastic surgery techniques have not been able to prevent disfiguring scar widening. We believe this medical-grade superelastic suture will probably find many other applications in plastic, reconstructive, and general surgery.

REFERENCES

  • 1 Nordström R E. Hair transplantation. The use of hairbearing compound grafts for correction of alopecia due to chronic discoid lupus erythematosus, traumatic alopecia and male pattern baldness.  Scand J Plast Reconstr Surg Suppl. 1976;  14 1-37
  • 2 Nordström R EA. “Micrografts” for improvement of the frontal hairline after hair transplantation.  Aesth Surg J. 1981;  5 97-101
  • 3 Headington J T. Transverse microscopic anatomy of the human scalp. A basis for a morphometric approach to disorders of the hair follicle.  Arch Dermatol. 1984;  120 449-456
  • 4 Nordström R E, Devine J W. Scalp stretching with a tissue expander for closure of scalp defects.  Plast Reconstr Surg. 1985;  75 578-581
  • 5 Nordström REA Tissue Expansion. Oxford, UK; Butterworth & Heinemann 1996
  • 6 Nordström R E. “Stretch-back” in scalp reductions for male pattern baldness.  Plast Reconstr Surg. 1984;  73 422-426
  • 7 Nordström R E, Raposio E. Scalp extension: a quantitative study.  Dermatol Surg. 1999;  25 30-33
  • 8 Nordström R EA, Greco M, Raposio E. The “Nordstrom suture” to enhance scalp reductions.  Plast Reconstr Surg. 2001;  107 577-582
  • 9 Fan J, Wang J. The “silicone suture” for tissue expansion without an expander: a new device for repair of soft-tissue defects after burns.  Plast Reconstr Surg. 2004;  114 484-488

Rolf E. A Nordström

The Nordström Hospital of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Ltd.

Annankatu 11 B, 00120 Helsinki, Finland

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