ABSTRACT
Postauricular skin, postauricular fascia, temporoparietal fascia (pedicle or free),
the free radial forearm flap (fascial or fasciocutaneous), and free lateral arm fascial
flap, have been used for burned ear reconstruction reported in the literature. Patients
who did not have normal tissue around the ear region, because of severe thermal injuries
to the external ear, are not available for draping the costal cartilage framework;
these patients require free flaps. The author reports a burned ear reconstruction,
using a prefabricated free radial forearm fasciocutaneous flap, included an autogenous
costal cartilage framework. In this case, the front and back of the cartilage framework
were covered with the skin of the forearm flap. This is the main difference from other
techniques in the literature. This flap is valuable for burned ear reconstruction,
when local tissue and other free flaps are not available.
KEYWORD
Burned ear reconstruction - prefabricated free radial forearm flap - cartilage framework
