Burn Reconstruction
Correcting scarred and damaged skin

Whether they are large or small, burn scars can not only be a source of self-consciousness, they can also impair the function of the burned part of your body.

Plastic Surgery Associates performs several burn reconstruction procedures that improve the appearance and function of scarred areas of your body. Listed below are the five procedures in the reconstructive ladder, which ranks treatments from least to most complex. All of them, however, are demanding surgical procedures that usually require hospitalization.

• Skin graft. A healthy patch of skin is removed from one area of your body and used to cover a site where the skin is missing or damaged. Sometimes the graft uses only the layers of skin closest to the surface. Other times, if your wound is especially large or deep, it may use all layers of the skin or even the underlying fat and cartilage. The graft is successful when new blood vessels and scar tissue form in the treated area.
• Burn scar contracture release. If your scar has pulled (contracted) the edges of your skin together, the resulting contracture may impair the movement of adjacent tendons and muscles. The doctor incises your scar to release the contracture, then repairs the area with a skin graft or flap.
• Local flap surgery. A flap is a piece of living tissue with its own blood supply, which is moved from one area of your body to another. The doctor creates a skin flap near the wound and, leaving it attached at one end, rearranges it over the damaged area. If necessary, the doctor performs microsurgery, reattaching the nerves and blood vessels.
  Tissue expansion. A silicone balloon called a tissue expander is inserted under the healthy skin adjacent to your burn. Over the next few weeks, the expander is filled with salt water, stretching the skin and creating a bulge. When the stretched area is large enough, the doctor removes the expander and covers the damaged areas with the extra skin.
• Free tissue transfer. This is the most complex burn reconstruction procedure. A skin flap (its underlying fat, blood vessels and often muscle) is completely detached and moved to the damaged area. The blood vessels are then reattached at the new site using microsurgery.

Other burn reconstruction procedures
Plastic Surgery Associates also performs hair transplants. Known as burn scar alopecia, the transplants can help restore hair lost through injury.