[Full-load expansion techniques and preliminary clinical application].

For accelerating the inflation process of soft tissue expansion, a continuous inflation protocol regarding pain as the criterion of over-inflation, the full-load expansion technique, was introduced. It is carried out by restricting persistently the pressure in the expander near the pain threshold in a state of dynamic equilibrium between the infusing rate and the skin expansion velocity, with a simple and practical assembled device. This inflation is neither at a uniform infusing rate nor at a constant filing pressure. 19 expanders in 13 patients were inflated following this protocol. Their inflations were respectively fulfilled in 5 to 20 days, depending individually on their anatomic regions, total volumes of infusion, areas of the overlying skin and the patient susceptibilities.