Abstract

Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea Fingertip is the part of the hand most frequently injured. Nail bed and fingertip injuries often result in time lost from work and even can be permanently disabling if imporperly repaired. The ideal fingertip reconstruction should attempt to maintain length, preserve nail functon, and provide sensate soft tissue covering without pain during use. Two kinds of island flaps based on single neurovascular bundle were used for fingertip reconstruction. The step-advancement island flap incorperated the step ladder principle with full tactile sensibility in the required position with the good soft tissue support. Innervated reverse vascular pedicle digital island flap is based on the digital palmar arch which is the anastomosis between the radial and ulanr sides of the finger at the level of 1/2 of middle finger.Sensation could be provided by the anastomosis between divided digital nerve and dissected digital nerve branch of the island flap. We report 25 cases of fingertip inj ury repaired with two kinds of new island flap techniques.