THE V-FLAP AND THE BERLIN TULIP FLAP - 2 NEW CONCEPTS IN CONVENTIONALFLAP TECHNIQUES

Microsurgical operations are costly and technologically demanding. We have therefore developed new conventional flap techniques using state- of-the-art knowledge of skin anatomy and circulation. The V-flap is a combination of the V-Y advancement flap and two Limberg flaps [2]. Six ty patients treated by the new flap technique have shown a low rate of complication. Even when used in difficult regions of the body or in v ery large defects, the V flap has proven to be very effective. It has been adopted as a standard flap technique in our hospital. The Berlin tulip frap is another very reliable flap. To form the tulip flap, the outer corners of a subcutaneous pedicle flap are curved backwards. Whe n detached, they can be transposed to the healthy tissue on the contra lateral side. This completely relieves the midzone, which then can be safely closed in the same man ner as a V-Y flap. The Berlin tulip flap is particularly useful for covering trunk defects and managing sacral ulcers in paraplegics.