Lasers in Plastic Surgery
I. OVERVIEW A. Laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of B. All lasers have four essential parts 1. A medium (gas, liquid, or solid) that can be excited by stimulated…
Principles of Head and Neck Reconstruction
RECONSTRUCTIVE GOALS I. PATIENTS UNDERGOING HEAD AND NECK RECONSTRUCTIVE PROCEDURES ARE OFTEN DEBILITATED, AND LONG-TERM SURVIVAL MAY BE POOR. Many cancer patients must also undergo postoperative radiation or chemotherapy. Therefore, the…
Perforator Flaps
I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE A. Perforator flap era began in 1989—Koshima and Soeda described an inferior epigastric artery skin flap without the rectus abdominis muscle for reconstruction of floor-of-mouth and groin defects. II. WHAT…
Basic Statistics
I. VARIABLES A. Categorical variables (discrete variable) 1. Nominal variable: Variable with two or more categories but no intrinsic order. State of residence (Michigan, New York, etc.) is a nominal variable with 50…
Neck Masses and Salivary Gland Neoplasms
EVALUATION OF A NECK MASS I. HISTORY A. Age of patient 1. Young patients are more frequently associated with congenital and infectious processes 2. Older patients more frequently have neoplastic and malignant processes B. Duration…
Tissue Injury and Repair
ANATOMY I. COLLAGEN: Most abundant connective tissue protein in mammals. A. Twenty types of identified collagen; most abundant types are: 1. *Type I: Skin, tendon, and mature scar have a 4:1 ratio of…
Fat Grafting and Adipose-Derived Stem Cells
I. FAT GRAFTING A. Background 1. Eugene Hollander documented the first known use of fat in surgical enhancement in 1912 when he used this technique in patients presenting with lipoatrophy of the face….
Vascular Anomalies, Lymphedema, and Tattoos
VASCULAR ANOMALIES I. CLASSIFICATION: Classification of vascular anomalies was historically very confusing (i.e., “cavernous hemangioma”); current nomenclature favors biology over tradition. Most vascular anomalies can be classified as one of the…
Benign Skin Lesions
I. EMBRYOLOGY A. Ectoderm: Epidermis, pilosebaceous glands, apocrine glands, eccrine sweat glands, nails B. Mesoderm: Langerhans cells, macrophages, mast cells, Merkel cells, fibroblasts, blood vessels, lymph vessels, fat cells C. Neuro-ectoderm: *Melanocytes, nerves, specialized…
