The salutary effects of the bed on the survival of experimental flaps.

The present study indicates that the distal, random segment of an axial pattern experimental flap can be partially salvaged by employing local pressure, which provides favorable contact with the bed. This portion of the flap could be considered as a composite skin graft. Serial India ink injections demonstrated that its physiological take resembles that of a split-thickness graft, dominantly depending on the blood vessels emerging from its bed, and to a lesser extent on those provided by its proximal segment and adjacent skin edges. Increasing the topical flap humidity hindered, rather than improved, its survival.