SIR,-The two papers on sutureless skin closure and subsequent correspondence lead me to offer a technique of sutureless skin closure which has been in use for a good many years. I do not know the inventor of the method.

The skin surrounding the wound is dried and cleaned with ether, and then painted with " mastisol." A piece of " lastonet " of adequate size is stretched and applied, to adhere to the mastisol, after which excess material is trimmed.

The open weave of the lastonet permits easy escape of any exudate, and the elastic recoil tends to close the wound. This method is applicable to flat or convex surfaces, and is also useful for holding split-skin grafts ; the dressing gives no trouble in removal, and is very secure-I am, etc.,

SIR,-The correspondence in your columns on the above subject is admirably summed up by an axiom which I remember from student days: " Wounds heal where stitches are not." My teacher intended to indicate, I think, that stitches merely provide a means of approximating the wound edges while natural healing takes place. The same applies Tape Closures.

One further point is that many wounds have depth, and that subcutaneous tissues also need to be held together to obtain rapid healing with minimal scar.-I am, etc.,

Strip Adhesive Skin Closure have given a timely reminder which many will heed and from which many patients will benefit. We can forgive them somewhat overstating their case by comparing the results from taping with clumsy skin cut closure, Surely anyone who has seen good subcuticular skin cut closure must be impressed with the end results. My only reason for writing is to remind others of the subcuticular interrupted inverted stitch using plain 0 catgut on an

atraumatic needle. When the skin is closed with these sutures J-1 in. (1.25-2.5 cm.) apart the results are cosmetically excellent, serum or blood is permitted to escape if and when necessary, and the patient is always relieved to know that there is nothing to remove after the usual 5 to 7 days-not even

adhesive tape.-I am, etc.