ABSTRACT
The word complicate comes from the Latin complicare, meaning to fold up, or in other words to make or become complex or intricate. In medicine a complication is a secondary disease or condition aggravating a previous one. A surgical complication is a deviation from the original planned outcome. It may be one small event that leads directly to a single change in outcome, or more commonly from a combination of seemingly unrelated factors that cascades to the undesired result. The field of dermatologic surgery encompasses multiple distinct procedures, each with its own unique complications. The four major acute complications encountered in dermatologic surgery (hemorrhage, infection, necrosis, and dehiscence) are referred to as the ‘‘terrible tetrad.’’ Each can singly or in combination lead to failure of the desired outcome, optimal wound healing (Fig. 1). Not surprisingly, the occurrence of one complication lowers the threshold for the development of others.
