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Though all surgeons can close wounds, there are times
when the skill of a plastic surgeon is needed. His expertise can
improve healing when a wound is large or cannot be covered with
the skin available at the site. The most useful techniques involve
the use of skin grafts and local flaps, which can help solve some
difficult wound closure problems.
Using a graft of healthy skin from another part of the body, a
plastic surgeon is able to cover and close wounds where there
is a lack of adjacent skin to use. The transplanted healthy skin
heals into the new location. Skin grafts are often used to heal
lower extremity wounds, wounds from trauma and burns.
During this intricate procedure, surgeons move skin and muscle
from one part of the body to another area. The flap heals and
is kept alive with its own blood vessels in the new location.
Flaps are frequently used to treat pressure sores of the back,
wounds from tumor removal and surgical wounds problems.
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