Clinical applications of tissue expansion in head and neck surgery.

Tissue expansion offers a new frontier in head and neck reconstruction in that it provides the capability of creating additional new skin for restoration of defects with skin of identical color, thickness, and appendages. The applicability of tissue expansion is only beginning to be appreciated as it is used in various aspects of head and neck surgery. Currently, the technique is most frequently used in scalp surgery for correction of male pattern baldness. Other uses of tissue expansion are in cranial facial surgery and expansion of distant, regional, or microsurgical flaps. Perhaps its greatest value from a reconstructive perspective, however, is in providing new skin for reconstruction of various facial defects through the use of primary wound closure or a multitude of local flaps.