Hemostatic Net Versus Surgical Drain After Deep Plane Facelift Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.

[BACKGROUND] Several studies have discussed the safety and effectiveness of the hemostatic net after facelift surgery. However, fearful of having to deal with a hematoma or seroma following the surgery, many surgeons opt to leave surgical drains in place for a short time after the procedure. There is minimal data from studies comparing the hemostatic net to surgical drains.

[OBJECTIVES] To compare the efficacy of surgical drains and the hemostatic net after deep plane facelift surgery.

[MATERIALS AND METHODS] This study prospectively compares the effectiveness of both methods in a randomized controlled approach, including a consecutive series of 160 patients who underwent deep plane facelifts throughout a 6-month period. We compared the incidence of hematoma, seroma, edema, and other complications during the postoperative period using surgical drains and the hemostatic net.

[RESULTS] Eighty female patients were included in each group. Analysis of the postoperative data showed no significant difference in hematoma and seroma rates between the drain and net groups. Both methods were associated with comparable degrees of postoperative edema (p =  0.737). The occurrence of other complications such as ecchymosis, congestion, and necrosis did not show a significant correlation to either method.

[CONCLUSIONS] The hemostatic net and surgical drain have comparable outcomes in terms of controlling hematoma and seroma formation after deep plane facelift surgery and show similar degrees of postoperative swelling.

[LEVEL OF EVIDENCE I] A randomized controlled trial. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .