Allgöwer seam
The Allgöwer suture is a vertical backstitch suture ( Donati suture ) that has been modified to an incomplete intracutaneous suture . This special shape of suture can be used when sewing skin wounds.
The thread is pierced on one side of the wound, but on the other side it is passed under the surface with a circular stitch and then stabbed through the skin again on the side of the puncture. Compared to the Donati suture, only two instead of four puncture channels are visible on the epidermis . The procedure can be useful, for example, when sewing at the hairline to hide the incisions and stitches in the hair, and enables more cosmetically inconspicuous results. However, the wound edges are sometimes not easy to adapt. The alternating laying of the right and left Allgöwer seam has a compensating effect. The strength can approach that of a Donati seam.
This modification of the Donati suture, first described in 1963, is named after its inventor, the Swiss surgeon Martin Allgöwer (1917–2007).
