[The development of skin external expander and clinical applications].

The skin external expander that was designed and developed by the authors is a new device to produce extra skin tissue for the repair of defects by continuous traction over the skin. Clinical application in 38 cases since June 1993 have shown that the method has following advantages: easy in manipulation, unnecessary to bury the expander under the skin, safe and less complications with reliable effects. Accurate measurement of the expanded skin can be obtained with the method. Six months' follow-up of 18 cases demonstrated satisfying results.