This is a prospective, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial taking place in a single center. Patients will be identified in the emergency room as they present to the hospital and meet eligibility criteria. Following informed consent, patients will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either the adhesive strip repair or the suture repair group. Randomization will be dictated by a validated online software utilizing the Wichmann-Hill random number generator. A password-protected randomization database that is only accessible to the study team will be utilized.
After randomization to their respective laceration repair group, patients will be surveyed by the study team to assess their experience, satisfaction, and pain scores during the laceration repair. Approximately two months after their initial laceration repair, the patients will be contacted securely via phone call or email to assess if they had any complications and to assess their satisfaction and cosmetic rating of their laceration scar. Additionally, the subjects will be instructed to take pictures and/or videos of their scar and send it securely to the study team via UCI Epic MyChart (or a HIPAA-compliant encrypted email if MyChart is unavailable). These photos and videos will be de-identified and stored securely on a password-encrypted folder where a blinded evaluator will score the scars with a validated scar assessment tool. Patients will be instructed to only take photos/videos of their scar area and not any other major areas of their face that can be identified. Following the conclusion of the study, all patient identifiers and photos/videos will be destroyed to preserve patient privacy.
All survey data will be collected and entered into a REDCap database. Data collection will include demographics, phone/email contact information, patient satisfaction scores with the laceration repair, patient pain scores, patient scar cosmetic rating, presence of complications, and patient responses to questions about their general experience during the laceration repair and healing time period.
