The blood supply to the skin of the leg: a post-mortem investigation.

A detailed investigation of the blood supply to the skin of the leg in 22 cadavers using intra-arterial dye and lipiodol confirmed the increased vascularity of the skin of the upper leg and showed that surgically successful flaps are more safely raised on the medial and posterior aspect of the leg. There was a generally uniform distribution of the vascularity with the significant exception of the lower leg where the supply to the skin from perforating vessels was strikingly deficient. Some observations are made on the feasibility of using innervated free flaps and a free vascularised nerve graft.