الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Post burn scalp tissue reconstruction usually presents a challenge to plastic surgeon. Neumann in 1956 followed by Radovan in 1976 recognized the potential of tissue expansion for reconstructive surgery.
Prior to expansion, burn alopecia was managed with serial excision and local flaps. Presently, it may be the gold standard technique regarding the safety and efficiency of tissue expansion in the correction of burn alopecia.
Tissue expansion is an affordable, successful, and reliable method for the reconstruction of congenital and acquired defects on the skin surface. It provides reconstructed tissue that is almost identical to the tissue lost.
Tissue expanders are balloons made of silicon, which can be filled with saline through a valve system.Expanders can have either internal or external filling ports. Most surgeons recommend using remote ports. These should be placed away from the expander. Internal ports have both a higher failure rate and a greater incidence of accidental expander rupture due to the pressure exerted on the skin by the port.
The expanders are serially filled starting two to three weeks post-operatively. The expansion is carried our usually twice per week. Once the expander has been successfully inflated and ready for removal, advancement or rotation of the flap is decided to cover the defect.
The major postoperative complications include implant exposure, deflation, and wound dehiscence, and they indicate failure and need to terminate the process Minor complications include filling port problems, seroma, hematoma, infection, pressure exerted on the skin by the internal port and delayed healing,and they can be managed with preservation of the expander and proceeding to the desired outcome.
Our study was done from 2014 to 2016 and included 20 children ranging in age from 5 to 12 years and 20 adults ranging in age from 16 to 29 years, it aimed to compare between adults and children regarding postoperative complications.
Complications present were: infection in 4 adults and 10 children cases, exposed expander in 3 adults and 8 children cases, exposed valve line in 3 adults and children cases and ischemia of flap in 1 child case.
Statistical analysis show that there is highly statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding infection (P-value =0.04 ),and the results showed an increase in failure rate in children 50% more than in adults 20% with a statistically significant difference (P-value=0.4).