The effect of intradermal corticosteroids on skin flap edema.
OBJECTIVE: To validate a model for skin flap edema in the piglet and determine whether intraoperative and postoperative intradermal corticosteroids reduce the edema created. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, matched-control animal model. SETTING: Animal laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five weight-matched purebred Yorkshire piglets. INTERVENTION: Intraoperative and postoperative injections of intradermal triamcinolone. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURED: Flap edema. RESULTS: A reproducible skin flap edema model was validated in the piglet. Intraoperative intradermal corticosteroids decreased flap edema but postoperative corticosteroids did not. CONCLUSION: Clinical improvement in skin flap and supratip fullness may result from mechanisms other than edema.