Dermal Regeneration Template Generated Skin Can Be Raised as A Flap: A New Dimension in Aesthetic Restoration

Abstract

Childhood scars can lead to hideous aesthetic and functional deformities in young adults, which can be particularly distressing when involving the face and the breast in a female. Aesthetic restoration requires replacement of the whole or a part of the scarred skin by soft, pliable, and texture-matching skin, which nearly always is in short supply. Dermal regeneration templates (DRTs) can help in skin regeneration that is almost always aesthetically superior to most flaps. Aesthetic demands at the time of final restoration may require the regenerated skin to be moved as a local flap. As regenerated skin from dermal templates is known to match the vascularity of normal native skin, raising it as a flap should follow logically. This, however, has never been attempted to the best of our knowledge after a thorough literature search. We report a case of successfully using DRT-generated skin raised as a flap for aesthetic reconstruction of a postburn scarred breast in a young female. This adds a whole new dimension to the use of DRTs and points to a new field of research in scar management and aesthetic restoration.

Keywords

• skin flaps
• dermal regeneration template
• breast reconstruction