Regional Nasal Flaps: Forehead Flaps

Abstract

Through the history of humanity, the nose has been appreciated as an organ of respect and reputation. Consequently, it has frequently been a body part that was hurt as a punishment of social crimes. Because of its status and functions, nasal reconstruction has been the subject of investigations from the early days. Repair of nasal defects with forehead flap (FF) is the first known method of reconstruction. Towards the end of the 1700s, this technique gained popularity, and firstly Joseph Carpue published his experiences with this method in the year 1816. In the first years of the 19th century in a combination of FFs, cheek flaps described by French surgeons and brachial flaps introduced by Italian specialists were started to be used for the reconstruction of nasal defects. Various regional flaps for the repair of soft tissue defects of head and neck have been described. Initially, many methods were used in the repair of nasal defects. Currently, the use of all local flaps apart from forehead flap has been largely abandoned especially for large midline defects. It provides enough skin even for large nasal defects. Besides that, its color is more similar to the nose than another part of the body. Small and superficial nasal defects can close spontaneously with secondary healing, and free skin grafts or local flaps can be used for the closure of larger defect or those in unfavorable localizations. However, for the repair of deep and large defects, local or regional flaps should be used. Nowadays, as a regional flap, FF is used for the reconstruction of nasal defects frequently.