Electrocautery Versus Scalpel for Skin Incisions

A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Cosmetic Outcome of Electrocautery Versus Scalpel for Surgical Skin Incisions

The aim of this research project is to compare electrocautery to scalpel for laparotomy skin incisions, with the following objectives:

1. To investigate whether electrocautery produces a cosmetically inferior surgical scar.
2. To compare the rates of wound infection with each technique.
3. To determine if electrocautery results in less postoperative pain. Our null hypothesis is that electrocautery is equivalent to scalpel for creating skin incisions; with respect to wound cosmesis, wound infection rate, and post-operative pain.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients over 19 years old
• bowel resection surgery
• incision is 3cm or larger

Exclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosed with a connective tissue disease (e.g. Systemic lupus, scleroderma, polymyositis, dermatomyositis, Marfan syndrome, Ehler's Danlos, etc.)
• The site of planned surgery has a previous surgical scar.