COMPLICATION OF TISSUE EXPANDERS IN MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY

Oral and maxillofacial reconstructive surgery manages and deals with the re-conditioning, reestablishment and restoration of damaged and deformed anatomy of bone, skin, mucosa, muscle and nerves. And many a times, flaps are not sufficient to close the defect with help of local flaps and therefore it might become necessary to incorporate tissue expander to expand the surrounding tissue for restoring a defect. Tissue expansion is multifaceted technique for reconstruction surgeries providing well- vascularised surrounding tissues. This technique requires vigilant selection of patients to execute this process which lasts for approximately 8-12 weeks. Any remiss can lead to unfavourable outcome and complications, some minor & others major. This paper seeks to highlight the complications faced while incorporating a tissue expander. Major complications, might result in a delay in reconstruction but not tissue loss. Keywords: tissue expanders, complications, reconstruction, reconstructive surgery