Primary healing of skin wounds and incisions with a threadless suture

The ancient and recent medical history concerning wound closure identifies four basic technics. The procedure in greatest use today employs the thread suture and needle, but certain inevitable shortcomings have been tolerated of necessity in the absence, hitherto, of a faultless alternate method. The most promising substitute technic for the approximation of the skin and subcutaneous tissue, utilizing strips of adhesive tape, has been recommended and practiced by outstanding surgeons of each generation at recurring intervals since 1600 B.C., when the Egyptians first recorded clinical reports. Unfortunately, these attempts never were implemented effectively by a reliable surgical tape, and the procedure, consequently, was relegated to restricted use in minor conditions. Recently, the development of an entirely new type of surgical adhesive tape renewed interest in the application of strips of this material for wound healing and its clinical investigation over a period of thirty-three months provided impressive facts indicating that the technic with this special tape is feasible, dependable, applicable in all situations and not handicapped by any significant disadvantages. It is suggested that this deserves designation as the Threadless suture method, in contrast to the Thread suture which it has qualified itself to replace.