It would seem to be true that a burn injury, especially a hand burn, is one of the most miserable disasters one can aquire. Burnt hands are apt to bring about many sequelae from simple disfigurement and deformity to severe functional dis-ability, although many excellent surgeons offer their endless efforts to treat these disabilities. The author reviewed and analyzed 97 patients of post-burn syndactyly with interdigital scar contracture, who were operated on with numerous surgical procedures and followed up at the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Hallym University from January 1982 to December 1989.
The following results were obtained
1) The most common cause of hand burns was a scalding burn in 33 cases(35%), next was a steam burn(25% ), contact burn(20%) and a flame burn(13 %) in that order.
2) Males(59.8%) were affected more often than females (40.2%) in the ratio 1.5 : 1 and the most frequetly affected age was from 7 months to 2 years, being 40.2% of the burn eases.
3) The frequency of postburn syndactyly in each web space was as follows : the second (35 0 %), the third(31.3%), the fourth (27.0%), and the first(6.7%) in that order.
4) The time interval between the burn injury and any operative procedures is 3.0 years on an average, and age group for which operative procedures were most commonly used was the age from 2 to 5 years.
5) The most common type of surgical procedure was release and grafting(76%), and next was Z-plasty(18%), rotational flap(3%) and Y-V/V-M plasty(3%) in that order.
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