L. H. EngravD. M. HeimbachF. P. RivaraM. L. MooreJ. WangG. J. CarrougherB. CostaS. NumhomJ. CalderonN. S. GibranUniversity of Washington, SeattleUniversity of Washington School of MedicineHarborview Medical CenterHarborview Injury Prevention and Research CenterMahidol University2018-09-242018-09-242010-11-01Burns. Vol.36, No.7 (2010), 975-983030541792-s2.0-77957601658https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/29491Pressure garment therapy is standard of care for prevention and treatment of hypertrophic scarring after burn injury. Nevertheless there is little objective data that confirms effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of pressure garment therapy with objective data obtained with a randomized within-wound comparison. We enrolled consecutive patients with forearm injuries over a 12-year period. The subjects wore custom garments with normal and low compression randomized to either the proximal or distal zones. Hardness, color and thickness of wounds were objectively measured using appropriate devices; clinical appearance was measured by a panel masked to the identity of the pressure treated area. Wounds treated with normal compression were significantly softer, thinner, and had improved clinical appearance. There was no interaction of any effect with patient ethnicity. However, these findings were clinically evident only with moderate to severe scarring. We conclude that pressure garment therapy is effective, but that the clinical benefit is restricted to those patients with moderate or severe scarring. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.Mahidol UniversityMedicineArticleSCOPUS10.1016/j.burns.2010.04.014