Despite the popularity of lipofilling procedures in recent years, the presence of older habits still in fat graft harvesting and processing seems to be the biggest obstacle to the final better outcome of fat grafting. Our study is aimed to highlight some strategies what should be done in fat grafting in the shadow of evidence-based medicine and patient-reported outcomes which might be of interest to the clinicians. Between 2015 and 2017, 14 patients were included who underwent facial micro-autologous fat transplantation with platelet-rich plasma injection. The outcome was determined by the difference in presurgery and postsurgery FACE-Q modules, which were designed as patient-reported outcome instrument to evaluate the unique outcomes of patients undergoing facial cosmetic procedures. Surveys conducted were modules of satisfaction with facial appearance, satisfaction with cheeks, satisfaction with skin, psychological function, social function, aging appearance appraisal, and satisfaction with the outcome. All patients were followed up minimum 9 months. No major complications were recorded. The patient-reported FACE-Q satisfaction and FACE-Q quality-of-life presurgery and postsurgery results showed statistically significant improvement (<0.001). Overall satisfaction with the outcome was 87.6 ± 16.8 (range 55–100). A combination of platelet-rich plasma and micro-fat grafting with soft harvesting and processing could be seen a good surgical technique to restore volume and enhance skin quality in facial soft tissue augmentation. The authors believe that with minimum detrimental effect on fat grafting while harvesting, processing, and with the addition of platelet-rich plasma while applying may increase the surgeon's and patient's satisfaction with the outcome.
Background
Generally, advanced wound care resources are applied for complex wounds that pose a challenge to the medical and nursing teams. In this report, the use of leukocyte- and platelet-rich fibrin (L-PRF) is emphasized for complex wounds as an alternative, simple, inexpensive, time-saving process that does not require hospitalization and has a healing potential over that of bare soft tissue, including bone, tendon, and ligaments. The aim of this study is to extend the use of L-PRF in small-to-moderate-sized complex wounds of lower extremities in which L-PRF maintains the sensitive structures viable.
Methods
Between January 2016 and December 2017, 17 small-to-moderate-sized complex wounds of lower extremities treated with L-PRF were recruited from the plastic and reconstructive surgery clinic in Aydin State Hospital, Turkey. The treatment was administered twice per week in the outpatient clinic. Depending on the size and extension of the complex wound, two to five blood samples were collected into 8.5 ml dry, glass vacuum tubes with no anticoagulant, and samples were immediately centrifuged at 1630×g for 5 min to obtain L-PRF. Complete healing was defined as the day of complete wound epithelialization.
Results
The median values of the initial wound size and wound duration were 12 cm2 (interquartile range, 6 to 23 cm2) and 8 months before first admission (interquartile range, 4 to 18 months), respectively. All wounds showed significant improvements after L-PRF therapy and full closure after a median of 18 months, with an interquartile range of 11 to 34 months of L-PRF applications. There were recurrences of wounds during the first 6 months after therapy. No adverse events were observed.
Conclusions
Our results add to the growing evidence that L-PRF treatments protect and maintain bare soft tissue structures viable, facilitate the formation of granulation tissue and epithelization, and remarkably reduce the need for additional soft tissue surgeries in small-to-medium-sized complex wounds.
Platelets should not be argued only with their concentration, but it would be appropriate to evaluate with their yielded concentration and volume with MPV together while comparing PRP preparation protocols and kits.
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