Although many authors have described advantages of the transconjunctival approach, few reports describe risks of postoperative lower eyelid complications with repeated incisions. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the incidence of postoperative lower eyelid complication using the transconjunctival approach was different, depending on the time of incision. Patients who underwent orbital bony surgery at the Kanazawa Medical University Hospital between 1996 and 2012 were reviewed. Patients were divided into a group that underwent single transconjunctival incision and a group that underwent repeated incisions. Intraoperative and postoperative complications, including eyelid ectropion, entropion, and scleral show, were compared between the groups. A total of 154 transconjunctival incisions were made in 145 patients (mean age, 35.6 y; 99 men and 46 women), who were observed for a mean of 14 months (range, 6-97 mo). Two patients had eyelid lacerations with inferior lacrimal canaliculus injuries. Lower eyelid malposition requiring operative correction occurred in 3 of the 140 patients in group A (2.1%) and in 3 of the 14 patients in group B (21.4%) (P = 0.01). The total postoperative complication rate in patients with a single incision was 5.0% (n = 7), and that for repeated incisions (2-5 times) was 35.7% (n = 5) (P = 0.001). The total complication rate of transconjunctival incision was slightly high. Although repeated incision cases were significantly more frequent, the eyelid could be corrected without visible scarring although eyelid complications occurred.

Background: Minced skin grafting is a procedure that involves mincing of the harvested skin and grafting it back onto the wounds. The authors aimed to investigate whether minced skin grafting reduces the healing time and improves the sequential postoperative appearance of donor sites. Methods: A single-center, two-treatment, half-side comparative study was performed. The split-thickness skin remaining after grafting was minced until pasty. The small pasty graft mass was uniformly spread on half of the entire donor site. Minced skin grafting was not performed on the other side. The data from 30 patients were used for analysis. Results: The average time to complete healing of the donor sites in the minced skin grafting and control groups was 9.4 ± 2.5 and 12.4 ± 3.6 days, respectively. The difference in the healing time between the two groups was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Three blinded surgeons used a scale to grade photographs according to the degree of conspicuous donor sites in comparison with the normal skin around the donor sites. All observers reported that the differences in donor-site appearance between the minced skin grafting and control groups were statistically significant at postoperative months 1 and 2, and two observers reported that the differences in donor-site appearance were significant at months 4, 6, and 12. The differences in the number of patients with donor-site dyspigmentation between the minced skin grafting and control groups at 12 months were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This prospective half-side comparative trial demonstrates that minced skin grafting promotes wound healing and improves donor-site appearance after split-thickness skin grafting. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, II.

The management of wounds with tendon and/or bone exposure is challenging because of the insufficient blood supply to the wound bed. We describe our experience with 19 patients using a perifascial areolar tissue (PAT) graft with topical administration of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in the treatment of complex wounds with exposed tendons and/or bones in the extremities. Using a PAT graft is minimally invasive and technically easy, and the donor site is relatively preserved. However, PAT grafts for the treatment of a complex wound with large areas of exposed tendons and/or bones have sometimes failed to survive because of insufficient vascularization of the wound bed. Therefore, topical administration of bFGF, which promotes angiogenesis, was added to the graft. All grafts showed good graft survival and successfully covered the tendons and bones. Topical administration of bFGF accelerated vascularization in the PAT graft and facilitated wound healing by increasing the blood supply to the wound bed and achieved success with the PAT graft. In conclusion, using a PAT graft with topical administration of bFGF is a suitable option for the treatment of complex wounds with a large proportion of exposed tendons and/or bones. With minimal damage to the tissues near the wound, the PAT graft can be a useful option for limb salvage and could become a valuable tool for reconstructive surgeons.

Purpose: We previously reported that distraction osteogenesis is less invasive and gives greater skull advancement compared to conventional cranioplasty [Akai et al: Pediatr Neurosurg 2006;42:288-292]. In this study, we analyzed the distraction osteogenesis process and tried to identify and solve various technical problems. Patients and Results: We operated on 22 patients, 5 syndromic and 17 nonsyndromic. During treatment, we encountered several problems: (i) dural laceration during craniotomy (2 cases), solution: repair by suturing with fascia; (ii) skull fracture at sphenofrontal or coronal sutures (2 cases), solution: completed distraction; (iii) device dislocation during distraction (1 case), solution: the device was secured to the skull with stainless wire; (iv) wound issues around shaft and device (3 cases), solution: treated with antibiotic ointment. Discussion: (1) Extra caution is needed to avoid dural damage at frontal bottom burr holes. (2) Completion of craniotomy should be confirmed by checking if the bone flap moves in sync with brain pulsation. The craniotomy line should be placed forward of coronal sutures. (3) For patients younger than 2 years, employ clamp-type devices. (4) Shafts should be cut short enough to prevent their tips from exerting pressure or puncturing the scalp from beneath. Conclusions: The distraction osteogenesis technique has complications that may not occur in conventional one-stage cranioplasty. In this study, neither age at operation nor distraction distance were significant causes of complications during distraction osteogenesis.

We present cranioplasty for a patient who underwent encephalocele surgery during infancy. Preoperative 3-dimensional computed tomography venography showed the skull defect and abnormal running of the superior sagittal sinus in simultaneous images. Using computed tomography venography images as a guide, we could safely harvest full-thickness calvarial bone from the contralateral side of the superior sagittal sinus.