Prevention of Prey's syndrome and volume deficit after parotidectomy usingthe superficial temporal artery fascial flap

Frey's syndrome (gustatory sweating)is thought to be caused by aberrant reg eneration to the sweat glands of the face. We present a double-layered fasc ial flap based on the superficial temporal artery which can be used to cove r the parotid bed at the time-of parotidectomy and consists of both the tem poroparietal fascia and the fascia over the temporalis muscle. We used this superficial temporal artery fascial flap (STAFF) in 24 of 47 patients revi ewed after parotid surgery and found a significantly lower incidence of gus tatory sweating and a far less noticeable post-parotidectomy volume deficit or 'hollow'.