"The difficulty with previous techniques was harvesting a thick, uniform piece of skin and closing the wound where the incision was made, to minimize scarring," said Thomas Ray Stevenson, MD, president of the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation and ASPS member. "Through this combination of surgical techniques, a burn patient has only one operation rather than multiple procedures, reducing pain and recovery time."
In the study, the surgical team used a tissue expander in the back to create a single piece of thick skin, with its own unique blood supply, that would allow for microvascular tissue transfer. Surgeons removed the scarred facial skin, harvested the skin flap from the back, and transferred it to the face. The skin flap was large enough to cover the face completely with extra tissue to create a nose, which otherwise would require a separate surgery. The team closed the donor site on the back without requiring skin grafts from the leg to close the wound, eliminating huge scars that accompanied previous techniques.
Psychologically, burn victims not only have to struggle with their perception of their changed appearance, they also have to deal with how other people perceive them. They often suffer both functional and emotional trauma, which can be alleviated with reconstructive surgery.
"Many burn patients who successfully com
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Contact: Lasandra Cooper
media@plasticsurgery.org
847-228-9900
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
13-Oct-2004