Aesthetic outcome is an important end point of wound care. The purpose of this study was to compare a wound aesthetic scoring system by emergency physicians, patients, and digital imaging by blinded plastic surgeons. The goal was to see if digital photography could accurately analyze the aesthetics of closed lacerations for future research.This was a subanalysis of a prospective, randomized trial conducted in an urban, academic emergency department. Patients aged 18 to 100 years were included if they had simple, uncomplicated lacerations 8 hours old or less located on the trunk, head or neck (not scalp), or extremities that required repair by sutures. Exclusion criteria included immunocompromised state of health, a complicated laceration, specialty consultant intervention in management of the wound, or current use of or need for antibiotics for wound prophylaxis. Complicated lacerations were defined in the article. Infection outcomes, demographics, and aesthetic outcomes were assessed. Scar appearance was assessed at 3 to 4 months after closure using a previously validated 0-to 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) score and 6-point wound evaluation score (WES) done by 2 trained emergency physicians (MD1 and MD2). Patients also performed self-VAS (VAS(Pt)), whereas VAS was done using digital imaging by 2 trained plastic surgeons (VAS(Plast1) and VAS(Plast2)).
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