That Perfect Hue of Yellow: Surgeons Share How They Know They’ve Excised Enough

Surgeons across specialties recognize that adequate excisional debridement is critical for successful wound bed preparation, yet they all have unique opinions on what “adequate” looks like and how to assess if they’ve done enough.

We brought together burn surgeons to discuss the myriad of challenges with this step of wound reconstruction and care.

As you’ll read in the below brief, two common themes emerged as the primary criteria for determining adequate excision: punctate bleeding and shiny, yellow fat if going deeper.

Participating surgeons include:

• Derek Bell, Director of the Kessler Burn Center at University of Rochester Medical Center
• Roselle Crombie, General and Burn Surgeon from CT Burn Center, Yale New Haven Health System
• James C. Jeng, General, Burn and Trauma Surgeon from UC Irvine
• Philip Fidler, Director of Education for Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America
• Brett Hartman, Medical Director of Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Eskenazi Health
• Nicole Kopari, the Pediatric Burn Medical Director at Children’s Hospital New Orleans

Access the brief below to hear more from these surgeons, who agree that debridement is extremely nuanced, and their ability to feel confident in their practice has come from extensive experience looking at many wounds.

Please note: The opinions expressed, and techniques described, herein are general in nature and based on the clinical experience of the presenting physician. Physicians should use their own professional judgment and consider patient-specific factors in treating their own patients.

Disclosures: Drs. Crombie and Kopari are paid consultants of Integra LifeSciences. None of the quoted physicians have been compensated for their participation in this project.