Reconstruction and Microsurgery

Most wounds and surgical defects can effectively be reconstructed with local movement or rearrangement of skin and subcutaneous tissue or muscle. These tissue flaps can be used to close and heal lower extremity injuries, facial defects, or complicated wounds.

Often the plastic surgeon will be called to help manage complex wounds or injuries that require the skills of a microsurgeon.

Microsurgery involves utilizing delicate and precise techniques with the aid of high power microscopes and operative loupes to perform reconstructive procedures. For instance, following cancer ablative surgery of the mandible, the plastic surgeon can reconstruct the jaw by transferring a bone from the leg with its artery and vein, shaping it, and connecting it to an artery and vein in the face. This is called free tissue transfer and is a highly technical procedure done only by surgeons with expertise in microsurgery.

Nerve repair using high power microscope
Skin Cancer Reconstruction



Often the plastic surgeon will be called to help manage complex wounds in conjunction with skin cancer removals performed by Dermatologists and Mohs Micrographic surgeons. If these wounds are created in conspicuous places on the face (ie, nose, cheek, lips), a plastic surgeon can replace missing tissue with like tissue, or mobilize the surrounding tissue (skin flaps) to recreate normal contours. Adding cartilage grafts, skin grafts or other soft-tissue fillers can reconstruct the cancer defects to resemble near-normal anatomy, and can often result in nearly imperceptible scars hidden in skin creases.