Background and Objective

Facial injuries are an important reason for urgent consultation; the aesthetic objective of its treatment is paramount.

This study seeks to verify the effect of botulinum toxin type A in the healing of posttraumatic facial wounds and to relate this effect with different variables.

Methods

Prospective, descriptive, field study in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Service of the Dr. Domingo Luciani Hospital (Caracas, Venezuela).

The sample consisting of 40 patients was divided into 2 groups: group A was given botulinum toxin, and group B was given physiological solution. The following variables were studied: sex, age, skin phototype, depth and extension of the injury, relationship with relaxed skin tension lines, and affected aesthetic units. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to establish the score of the aesthetic result of the scar.

Results

The average value of the esthetic result score was significantly higher (P <0.05) in group A. Healing was successful in group A regardless of sex and age. The skin phototypes III and IV, the forehead and cheeks, the deep wounds and those in the direction unfavorable to the relaxed skin tension lines, showed significant differences between both groups.

Conclusions

The application of botulinum toxin as a coadjutant treatment in post-traumatic facial wounds, especially in those patients with skin phototype above III, deep wounds, directed against the skin’s tension lines, and frontal or centrofacial wounds , opens new promising horizons to favor aesthetic results in posttraumatic facial scars.

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