Soft tissue heel defects reconstruction represents a challenge for plastic surgeons because of the poor availability of regional tissue to perform the reconstruction. We divide the heel on the anterior or weight-bearing heel and the posterior or non-weight-bearing heel. Our preferences are the fasciocutaneous instep flap for anterior heel defects and the reverse sural flap for posterior heel defects. We have performed 11 reconstructions of the heel. The complications were total necrosis of 1 instep flap in a previously irradiated patient and 1 case of partial tip necrosis in a reverse sural flap. Functional recovery has been very satisfactory for both procedures. Regional island flaps are for us the first therapeutic option because the skin is similar to the lost one and less time consuming than a free-flap reconstruction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.