An Effective, Reproducible, and Cost-Effective Approach for Achieving Symmetry in Bicoronal Incisions in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Craniofacial Surgery.

Abstract

Bicoronal incisions are frequently used for exposure and access to the craniofacial skeleton. A zigzag design is often used to camouflage the resultant scar. Often, free-hand zigzag drawings require several correction attempts to ensure symmetry because of the need for replication of multiple limbs of the bicoronal incision that need to be similar lengths, distance, and angles from each other. The authors present a novel technique using a template that rapidly and consistently achieves symmetric zigzag bicoronal incisions. The device is a hairstyling device that is inherently geometric in its design. Retrospective results of pediatric craniofacial patients from 2010 to 2018 are presented. Patients undergoing endoscopic reconstructions and patients who had prior operations at other institutions were excluded from the study. Fifty-two patients met inclusion criteria, with age at surgery ranging from 3 to 207 months (mean, 17 months). Follow-up ranged from 1 to 66 months (mean, 26 months). Data collected included demographics, type of surgery, and operative outcomes, including incision-related complications. Using this dynamic hairstyling device in a novel application as a template results in a fast, effective, and easily reproducible symmetric bicoronal zigzag incision in all cases. This technique eliminates the need for adjusting the length and angles of bicoronal incisions, and it can be adapted across a variety of head sizes and shapes in both pediatric and adult populations.