The fate of sternotomy scars in children.

The scars from sternal split incisions were examined and rated in 101 consecutive children attending a cardiology clinic at least 1 year after surgery. Each scar was rated as excellent, good, acceptable, or poor. Factors that may correlate with scar quality were analyzed. This analysis showed that poor scars were most likely to have been closed with intracuticular polyglycolic acid suture; males were more likely to have better scars than females; the younger the child at operation, the better was the scar result; and only 18 of the 69 scars that were hypertrophic 1 year postoperatively remained so after a mean of 5.5 years.