Controlled tissue expansion in reconstructive surgery.

Controlled soft tissue expansion by encouraging the development of tissues which are ideally matched in colour, texture and hair-bearing qualities to a given donor defect, offers a new, safe and widely applicable technique in reconstructive surgery. Over the past four years we have used this technique to reconstruct "difficult" defects in many parts of the body. When necessary, synthetic implants or bone grafts have been successfully implanted beneath the expanded tissues.