Tissue expander infections in children: Look beyond the expander pocket

Infection of the expander pocket is the most common complication encountere d with soft-tissue expansion. It is usually due to direct inoculation with skin flora either at the time of expander insertion or from extrusion of th e device. The authors report two cases of infection of tissue expanders in which the children had concomitant infected sites distant from the prosthes is. Etiological bacteria of common pediatric infections like otitis media a nd pharyngitis were cultured from the infected expander pocket, raising sus picion that translocation of the organism to the expander had occurred. Agg ressive antibiotic treatment, removal of the prosthesis, and flap advanceme nt is advocated.