BACKGROUND:Hook nail deformity is one of the widespread post-traumatic deformities of distal phalanges. The affected finger has decreased function and loses its characteristic appearance. Onlyafew publications explored this problem in children. In this study, we presentasurgical correction technique for this deformity by the combination of two existing reconstructive methods, i.e., the antenna procedure and the reverse-flow homodigital island flap. CLINICAL CASES:Aseries of clinical cases of patients aged 3, 5, and 17 years who underwent hook nail deformity correction was analyzed. These children underwent the combination of the antenna procedure and reverse-flow homodigital island flap. In all three cases, the deformities were corrected, andanacceptable appearance, and function of the fingers were achieved. DISCUSSION:Various methods of hook nail deformity correction have proven themselves and affirmed by literature data. The method described herein may be considered reliable, as demonstrated by the clinical cases. CONCLUSIONS:We consider the combination of the antenna procedure and reverse-flow homodigital island flap asajustified method. However, issues raised in this technique require further investigation.

Objective. Hand injuries in children are quite common. Most challenging within plastic and reconstructive surgery/reconstructive microsurgery expertise were there traumatic hand defect and upper extremities open injuries sequels. There were wide variety of reconstruction techniques to deal with hand defects in general and with distal phalanx defects particularly. The core problem is how to make very choice of reconstructive method and technique from diversity of local, regional and distant flaps. Injuries of distal phalanges are the most common type of hand trauma in children. The problem of coverage of soft tissue defects of distal phalanges remains actual. A lot of methods of coverage of distal phalanges defects are developed. There is no generally accepted approach or an algorithm in the treatment of adults and children with such type of trauma.Material and methods. In the period from 2018 to 2021 at the Microsurgery Department of N.F. Filatov Moscow Clinical Hospital for Children 152 surgical operations using local (68), regional (72) and distant (12) flaps were performed.Results. All flaps in all patients within our clinical series have survived. There were neither major complication no secondary revisional procedures. Used different flaps in general provided transport of adequate viable donor tissues to recipient areas of critical functional significance. The selection of particular flap we have been making on individual basis mostly depending on type and injury severity, and functional requirement and prognosis.Conclusion. We are considering surgeon’s own experience is main defining factor to make selection of certain method from the diversity of different flaps.

BACKGROUND: The hand and its distal phalanges, especially in children, are among areas mostly exposed to trauma while contacting the environment. Injuries causing loss of soft tissue and bone component are both challenging and interesting. This report presents the treatment results of children with soft tissue and bone defects of distal phalanges, in which reconstructions including combination of regional flaps, bone, and nailbed grafts were performed. CLINICAL CASE: This report presents clinical cases of the surgical treatment of 4- and 6-year-old children with fingertip injuries who underwent reconstructions including the combination of regional flaps, bone, and nailbed grafts. A combination of the scrap graft was performed in the first case with antegrade homodigital island flap and in the second case with thenar flap. The results were assessed 6 and 7 months after surgery. DISCUSSION: The primary aim of the surgical treatment of children with distal phalangeal defects is coverage of those defects. The restoration of the bone component of the defect is recommended to prevent postoperative deformations of the distal phalanges. Fingertip replantation or microsurgical transplantation of vascularized tissue complexes are technically difficult and require thorough care and monitoring of the childs condition in the postoperative period as all these measures may fail. CONCLUSIONS: The possibility to combine the scrap bone and nailbed graft with existing reliable surgical methods open new prospects for the successful treatment of fingertip injuries.