Attempts to increase the surviving length in skin flaps by a moist environment.

A method of raising a random patterns flap on the back of a rat was used to study the relationship between the surviving length and distance of dye penetration. It was found that the intraoperative dye distance was an accurate predictor of survival length in the Control Group. The effects of dressing were evaluated against the controls. An apparently significant increase in the survival length (beyond the dye distance) was seen with the "tunnel procedure" we used. It is suggested that a moist environment will favor survival of that portion of a flap where necrosis is usually seen when no dressing is used.