Repair of skin and soft tissue loss of the lower leg with cross-leg flaps.

Forty patients with severe leg injuries associated with skin or soft tissue loss were treated. Cross-leg flaps were used. The flaps healed well. Special attention was paid to the pre- and postoperative periods of disability of the patients. The former were very long (37.7 months) compared to the latter (10.5 months) which ceased when the patient became fit for work.