Tissue Expansion

Skin tissue is often transferred from healthy body areas to injured or deformed body areas during reconstructive surgery, and the tissue expansion procedure is designed to help facilitate this process. Tissue expansion essentially enables your body to grow extra skin so that it can be used to rebuild deformed body structures or damaged skin.

Who Is a Candidate for Tissue Expansion?

Tissue expansion is widely used for breast reconstruction when additional skin is needed to accommodate breast implants. It is also ideal for patients who need a reconstructive surgery procedure that requires additional skin to restore function and improve the appearance of a deformed or damaged area of the face, neck, hands, arms, legs or elsewhere on the body. Tissue expansion is easily performed in areas with thinner skin but more difficult to perform in areas like the back or torso, where skin is thicker.

What Is Involved in the Tissue Expansion Procedure?

Tissue expansion works by gradually stretching existing skin over time in order to create the excess skin needed for transplantation to a reconstruction site on the body.

A silicone expander device is surgically placed under the skin near the reconstruction site and then slowly filled with saline solution in stages. This causes the expander to inflate under the skin like a balloon, stretching skin nearby the reconstruction site so it can later be removed, along with the tissue expander, and then implanted at the reconstruction site. The expander will not impair your normal daily activities while it is in place, however there will be a variable recovery period after expanded skin is transferred.

Contact New Horizons Plastic Surgery

To discuss your reconstructive surgery options, including tissue expansion, with Nacogdoches plastic surgeon Dr. Gregory Wittpenn, contact New Horizons Plastic Surgery at (936) 564-3744. Dr. Wittpenn accepts reconstructive surgery patients seeking tissue expansion from all over eastern Texas and western Louisiana, including residents of Huntsville, Lufkin, Tyler and Shreveport.