The Journey of Learning Excisional Debridement

Adequate excisional debridement plays a central role in the ability to advance a patient to wound closure and healing. It’s also a skill that takes hands-on practice to master, according to practitioners who have spent decades refining their own technique and approach.

In the below brief, seven surgeons from a variety of backgrounds, share their personal experience learning excisional debridement. They discuss what surprised them most about excision as a new surgeon, what advice has stayed with them over the years, and lessons from early failures.

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
• Paul M. Glat: Chief of Plastic Surgery at Tower Health
• James C. Jeng: General, Burn and Trauma Surgeon hailing from UC Irvine, American College of Surgeons
• 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: Pediatric Burn Medical Director at Children’s Hospital New Orleans

Read the below brief to learn how these surgeons developed their own best practices for excisional debridement.

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, Glat and Kopari have a consulting relationship with Integra LifeSciences. None of the quoted physicians were compensated for their participation on this project.