What Is Post-Surgical Wound Fat Liquefaction and How to Handle It?
Post-operative wound fat liquefaction may be caused by high-temperature damage from the electric scalpel during surgery or prolonged exposure of the incision after surgery. Different treatment methods are adopted based on the healing status of the incision and the amount of exudate. If there is less exudate, only 1-2 stitches of sutures need to be cut off, and the incision can be healed through dressing changes. If there is more exudate, the incision should be fully opened as soon as possible, and soaked with gentamicin saline gauze or yellow gauze.
The mechanism of its occurrence may be due to superficial burns of subcutaneous fat tissue caused by high temperatures generated by the electric scalpel and denaturation of some fat cells due to thermal damage. At the same time, capillaries within the fat tissue become embolized due to thermal coagulation, further impeding the blood supply to the already poorly perfused adipose tissue. Post-operatively, aseptic necrosis of adipose tissue occurs, resulting in the formation of excessive exudate, which affects incision healing. Additionally, prolonged exposure of the incision, under mechanical stimuli such as squeezing and clamping, can easily trigger oxidative decomposition reactions leading to aseptic inflammatory responses and liquefaction of adipose tissue.
Different treatment methods are adopted based on the healing status of the incision and the amount of exudate. If there is less exudate and the incision is mostly healed, only 1-2 stitches of sutures need to be cut off, and a saline gauze strip is placed for drainage. The incision can be healed through dressing changes without the need to fully open the entire incision, as this may prolong the healing time. If there is more exudate and the incision fails to heal, the incision should be fully opened as soon as possible and soaked with gentamicin saline gauze or yellow gauze. Once the granulation tissue is fresh, secondary suturing should be performed promptly to shorten the healing time.
