Abstract
For the treatment of skin defects after removal of facial tumors, we often use local flaps to preserve the three-dimensional structure of the face. For this purpose, we prefer to use oblique sigmoid subcutaneous island (OSS flaps) to obtain good aesthetic results. The facial skin defects of 11 patients with malignant skin tumors (including 6 cases of basal cell carcinoma, 1 squamous cell carcinoma, 2 Bowen's disease, and 2 solar keratosis) were reconstructed using OSS flaps. Two of the skin defects were located in the medial canthal region, 2 were in the nasal root, 5 were in the cheek, 1 was in the lateral canthal region and 1 was in the nasolabial fold. Good aesthetic results were obtained and maintained in all patients, without any signs of complications. Facial reconstruction with a local flap is superior to other methods based on two points : minimal resection of normal skin is required and curved surface reconstruction is feasible without damaging the three-dimensional structure of the face. The OSS flap was originally reported by Ono, et al. in 1993. Although it has been frequently used for defects less than 15mm after excision of small facial tumors, we have obtained good aesthetic results in patients with large defects using this technique. We conclude that reconstruction with an OSS flap is a superior technique for various sizes of facial skin defects.
