Old burns and pregnancy.

Abstract

Burns rarely cause problems in subsequently occurring pregnancies. Occasionally abdominal wall scarring is so dense and extensive that consequent maternal pain in the second half of pregnancy demands surgical decompression. This does not usually precipitate labour and the resultant raw areas should be covered with split skin autografts. It is exceptional for burns to destroy the entire breast disc; residual breast mound development occurs during puberty, and hypertrophy and engorgement during and after pregnancy. Although absence of the nipple-areola complex precludes breast feeding, distortion of it does not prevent feeding in all cases. Split skin autografting with customized pressure therapy is the best remedy for correction of contracture deformity.