Ha. Badran et al., MANAGEMENT OF FACIAL CONTOUR DEFORMITIES WITH DEEPITHELIALIZED LATERAL INTERCOSTAL FREE-FLAP, Annals of plastic surgery, 37(1), 1996, pp. 94-101
Ten cases suffering from facial contour deformities caused by loss of
subcutaneous tissue are presented. Three cases had hemifacial microsom
ia, 3 had postmaxillectomy collapsed cheek, while the remaining 4 pati
ents had Romberg's disease, All cases were treated by the insertion of
a deepithelialized, revascularized lateral intercostal flap. The flap
s used had dimensions ranging from 9 cm x 6 cm to 12 cm x 14 cm. The v
ascular pedicle of the flap is the lateral cutaneous branch of one of
the lower four posterior intercostal bundles (usually the tenth or the
eleventh). The flap is designed to have the pedicle in its center, th
us allowing defattening of the edges at the primary surgery and minimi
zing the need for secondary debulking. Nine flaps were successful and
one failed. All successful flaps gave a permanent and satisfactory cor
rection of the deformity. The difficulties and advantages of the flap
are presented.