Utility of the cleft lift procedure in refractory pilonidal disease

Background Refractory pilonidal disease is a problem. We wished to show the utility of the cleft lift procedure in solving nonhealing. Methods We selected a subset of challenging cases for this study. The subset included all patients referred with persistent open wounds despite at least 2 prior pilonidal surgeries elsewhere. Results The 69 patients had undergone 223 surgeries (average, 3) and endured open wounds for a sum of 365 years (average, 5). All patients we contacted were healed after a single cleft lift surgery with 3 exceptions. Two patients required 2 lifts before healing and 1 patient required 3 lifts. Conclusions The cleft lift procedure gave excellent results in patients with refractory pilonidal disease.