A comparison of thinning and conventional free-flap transfers to the lower extremity.

This study compares the application of conventional free flaps and thinning flaps to the lower extremities. Thirty patients whose skin and soft tissue of the lower extremities had been reconstructed were divided into two groups: a conventional flap group, reconstructed using conventional free flaps (15 cases), and a thinning flap group, reconstructed using thinning flaps (15 cases). Postoperative complications, long-term results, and revisional surgery were studied in the two groups. Although survival after surgery was the same in both, in the conventional flap group, 11 patients required secondary revisional surgery, the excessive bulk of the flap resulting in poor aesthetics and difficulty in wearing shoes. The conventional flap group also required longer treatment. In the thinning flap group, only 5 of 15 patients received secondary revisional surgery. As a reconstruction material for the lower extremities, thinning flaps are both aesthetically and functionally superior to conventional bulky flaps.