Patients may choose a surgeon from a traditional specialty with rigorous criteria for certification, such as a plastic surgeon or an otolaryngologist, or they may opt for a 'subspecialist' such as a cosmetic surgeon, aesthetic plastic surgeon or facial plastic surgeon. The study reported here was conducted to test the hypothesis that patients believe that surgeons with these subspecialist titles are more skilled, and that operative results are viewed more favourably if they are believed to be the handiwork of a subspecialist. Tissue expansion for closure of the donor site of a distant pedicle flap Ronald M Zuker, Craig Fielding, Steve Beatty Tissue expansion continues to see new and innovative applications. Recently tissue expansion of free flap donor sites has not only provided additional tissue for transfer but has also facilitated closure of the donor site. In this report tissue expansion is used to provide adequate tissue for direct closure of the donor defect, thus minimizing the deformity.
Many factors determine the quantity of neovascularization of a flap that has been transferred.
In free tissue transfers for reconstruction, the transferred flap's immediate survival is based on the blood flow restored through its dominant vascular pedicle at the time of surgery. These flaps become independent of their original dominant pedicle after a variable period of time. This study in the pig was designed to evaluate the effect of the loss of dominant vascular pedicle flaps during the early period of neovascularization. Considering that lightning strikes the earth about eight million times a day, lightning strikes are therefore a relatively uncommon event. A review of these injuries and two case reports are presented.