Scalp stretching with a tissue expander for closure of scalp defects.

The authors show a way of reconstruction of scalp defects with excellent results using a tissue expander. This method creates "new" scalp tissue for coverage of defects with normal hair-bearing skin having a dense and even growth of hair. The hairs grow in the correct direction. The authors also show that almost all of the "new" hair-bearing scalp gained by the tissue expander is a result of stretching the scalp over the expander and its close surroundings and that only a very minute portion is gained by migration of the scalp from farther away.