Tattoo Sticker: An Ideal Preoperative Planning Material for Flap Surgery.

Background: A successful surgery is guaranteed by the preoperative planning lineation. Existing line drawing materials often fade or vanish after sterilization. To avoid the disappearance and movement of the preoperative drawing line, the authors looked for an ideal marking material-tattoo stickers that could retain stability and precision following disinfection.

Methods: Four groups-Methylene Blue, Tattoo Sticker, Black Whiteboard Pen, and Red Marker Pen-were created for a surgical line drawing model. The 4 materials were used to make straight lines on the skin. After drying, the Black Whiteboard Pen and Red Marker Pen lines were fixed with iodine tincture. Subsequently, the marked area was sterilized thrice with iodine tincture to observe the residual rate of the marked lines. ImageJ software was used to analyze residual rates among groups. The experiments were repeated 10 times for each group.

Results: The residual rate was significantly higher in the Tattoo Sticker group than other groups. The differences between Methylene Blue and Tattoo Sticker groups, Black Whiteboard Pen and Tattoo Sticker groups, and Red Marker Pen and Tattoo Sticker groups were statistically significant (P<0.001).

Conclusions: Tattoo stickers are ideal surgical line-drawing materials with good resistance to dissolution and stability, remaining visible even after surgical disinfection.