Geoghegan Luke, Nikkhah Dariush
Academic Section of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
J Surg Case Rep. 2020 Aug 31;2020(8):rjaa273. doi: 10.1093/jscr/rjaa273. eCollection 2020 Aug.
Tissue expansion is a versatile tool in resurfacing soft tissue defects of the breast, extremity, head and neck that involves the placement of a temporary implant adjacent to a soft tissue defect. Incremental expansion exploits the viscoelastic properties of skin to generate a skin flap that can be used to resurface defects and provide cover over permanent protheses. Infection, implant extrusion and skin necrosis are recognized complications of tissue expansion. This article presents a revised framework of 10 technical factors to reduce the risk of complications and optimize outcomes with tissue expansion using an illustrative case presentation.
