Abstract
Recently published studies have demonstrated clinical effectiveness of closed-incision negative-pressure therapy (ciNPT) in many fields of surgery including vascular, cardiac, colorectal, orthopedic, and reconstructive surgery. A review of current literature was conducted to determine whether the application of negative-pressure therapy to closed incisions post aesthetic procedures was beneficial.
The PubMed/MEDLINE databases were searched for preclinical and clinical studies published through June 2018. Higher quality publications that met the following criteria were included: adult patients undergoing aesthetic or body contouring procedures, comparison of ciNPT with conventional dressings, and documentation of wound complications and/or incision quality.
One animal and multiple small, retrospective comparison articles are discussed. Scientific mechanism of action and economic analysis are also discussed. There are no level 1 randomized prospective controlled trials that directly evaluate the effects of ciNPT dressings in cosmetic patients.
For patients undergoing certain cosmetic procedures, preliminary data support the idea that ciNPT dressings provide aesthetic benefit, but more research is clearly needed.
