Forehead Flaps

Excerpt

Forehead flaps are 2-stage tissue flaps in which a forehead-based pedicled flap is used to repair more distal nasal defects. The first crude forms of this flap were described in India in about 600 BC. More narrow, paramedian flaps have replaced the broad, mid-forehead pedicles used in the past. This is a common form of interpolation flap, in which a vascular pedicle of the flap bridges over an intervening area of normal skin to reach the defect. The pedicle is removed in a subsequent procedure after the flap has established vascularity in the wound base. An important, but less commonly utilized, variation of this flap involves three stages to allow implantation of cartilage and/or skin for nasal lining prior to mobilizing the flap from the forehead.