Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Flap surgery is a technique essential to plastic and reconstructive surgery.A flap is defined as tissue that can be moved to another site and has its own blood supply.This is in comparison to a skin graft which does not have its own blood supply and relies on vascularization from the recipient site. [2]
Skin grafts and local skin flaps are by far more common than the other listed choices. Skin grafting is patching of a defect with skin that is removed from another site in the body. The skin graft is sutured to the edges of the defect, and a bolster dressing is placed atop the graft for seven to ten days, to immobilize the graft as it heals in ...
A full-thickness skin graft is more risky, in terms of the body accepting the skin, yet it leaves only a scar line on the donor section, similar to a Cesarean-section scar. In the case of full-thickness skin grafts, the donor section will often heal much more quickly than the injury and causes less pain than a partial-thickness skin graft.
An example of "free flap" could be a "free toe transfer" in which the great toe or the second toe is transferred to the hand to reconstruct a thumb. [1] For all "free flaps", the blood supply is reconstituted using microsurgical techniques to reconnect the artery (brings blood into the flap) and vein (allows blood to flow out of the flap).
Skin grafting – often used to treat skin loss due to a wound, burn, infection, or surgery. In the case of damaged skin, it is removed, and new skin is grafted in its place. Skin grafting can reduce the course of treatment and hospitalization needed, and can also improve function and appearance. There are two types of skin grafts:
Cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma is the second-most common cancer of the skin (after basal-cell carcinoma, but more common than melanoma). It usually occurs in areas exposed to the sun. Sunlight exposure and immunosuppression are risk factors for SCC of the skin, with chronic sun exposure being the strongest environmental risk factor. [26]
Recent studies have demonstrated that using topical tissue expansion can reduce the need for a split thickness skin graft after harvesting a forearm free flap. [6] The authors noted that this results in less pain as well as reduced healing time. This method has also been shown to be cost effective [3] as well as improve cosmetics. [citation needed]
Grafts have their own risks of failure and poor cosmetic outcomes. Flaps can require extensive incision resulting in long scars and may be better done by plastic surgeons (and possibly better again by those with extensive LM or "suspicious of early malignant melanoma" experience. Mohs surgery has been done with cure rate reported to be 77%. [10]