The closure of skin lacerations in patients with frail skin or surgical wounds under tension such as fasciotomies can present a difficult challenge. The use of sutures in a direct apposition repair of such lacerations can lead to cutting out due to skin fragility. We present a simple technique to prevent this. Adhesive strips are applied over the edges of the laceration (Fig 1). The wound edges are then opposed by sutures placed through the skin and overlying strips (Fig 2). The use of this technique increases the tensile strength of the laceration edges and decreases the risk of suture 'cut-out'.
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