Tissue Rearrangements: The Power of the Z-Plasty

Gabriel Hundeshagen; Ramón Zapata-Sirvent; Jeremy Goverman; Ludwik K Branski

doi:10.1016/j.cps.2017.05.011

Tissue Rearrangements: The Power of the Z-Plasty

Clin Plast Surg. 2017 Oct;44(4):805-812. doi: 10.1016/j.cps.2017.05.011. Epub 2017 Jul 21.

Authors

Gabriel Hundeshagen¹, Ramón Zapata-Sirvent², Jeremy Goverman³, Ludwik K Branski⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Shriners Hospital for Children-Galveston, University of Texas Medical Branch, 815 Market Street, Galveston, TX 77550, USA; Department of Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Burn Trauma Center, BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen, University of Heidelberg, Ludwig-Guttmann-Street 13, Ludwigshafen 67071, Germany.
² Department of Surgery, Shriners Hospital for Children-Galveston, University of Texas Medical Branch, 815 Market Street, Galveston, TX 77550, USA.
³ Sumner M. Redstone Burn Center, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Shriners Hospital for Children-Galveston, University of Texas Medical Branch, 815 Market Street, Galveston, TX 77550, USA. Electronic address: lubransk@utmb.edu.

PMID: 28888305
DOI: 10.1016/j.cps.2017.05.011

Abstract

The z-plasty is a highly versatile standard technique of reconstructive burn surgery. Variations of the classic z-plasty with limbs of equal length at 60° angles can accommodate specific reconstruction needs. Opposing z-plasties can be used when available tissue is limited; series of z-plasties can be linked to elongate tissue over a longer distance with smaller individual incisions, and a z-plasty with varying limb angles and lengths can provide tissue coverage in areas with special distributions of scarred and normal skin.

Keywords: Adjacent tissue rearrangement; Burn scar; Contracture; Z-plasty.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Burns / complications
Burns / surgery
Cicatrix / etiology
Cicatrix / surgery*
Contracture / etiology
Contracture / surgery*
Humans
Plastic Surgery Procedures / methods*
Surgical Flaps*