Dermatological Operation Using an Artificial Dermis “Terudermis^®”

Abstract

Deep wounds resulting in exposed bones or tendons are difficult to treat with skin grafts and are often repaired by a musculocutaneous or other conventional skin flaps. We tried to treat such cases using an artificial dermis “Terudermis” (AD-T) without skin flaps. The cases included an 81-year-old woman with malignant hemangioendothelioma exposed scalp bone after a wide excision of the tumor and an 87-year-old man with necrotizing fasciitis exposed muscles and tendons after undergoing extensive debridement. The skin defects could be covered with autologous split-thickness skin grafts on the 25th and the 21th days after applying AD-T, respectively. We further used this method on two cases with moderate skin defects after an excision of both eccrine poroma on the sole and acquired digital fibrokeratoma on the third finger. We confirmed that the application of AD-T can accelerate well vascularized granulation on poor wound beds, allowing us to easily treat deep defects with skin grafts and reduce mental and physical stress for older patients who need to undergo an operation. By expanding the adaptability of AD-T, dermatologists will surely be able to operate on a larger number of cases with skin defects.