L. Abdel-Malek, P. Peters, K Lun
Treatments of non-melanoma skin cancers increased by
86% between 1997 and 2010 (1). With an increasingly elderly population and thereby increased cumulative sun damage to
skin make the surgical repair of skin cancers more problematic.
The use of random pattern cutaneous flap to repair large
defects post-surgical excision of non-melanoma skin
cancers is a common practice, thus avoiding split thickness
and full-thickness skin grafts and associated morbidity.
The use of adhesive retention tapes is a recently reported
method to assist in wound closures which was reported by
Foster and Chan (2) with the use of Fixomull adhesive tape
to support atrophic skin with surface sutures placed
through the tape. This was further adapted by Peters et al
(3) with the use of Fixomull on the poles of a tripolar
advancement flap to close a large surgical defect following
the excision of a squamous cell carcinoma on a forearm
with severe solar elastosis.
We display and illustrate the variety of random pattern flaps
and the placement of adhesive support tape to counteract
the atrophy of the skin and avoidance of suture related skin
tears.