RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY BY BURNS

A burn wound can generate a lack of sensation and limited mobility of the affected part, it is also possible that there is an unattractive and very visible scar. Plastic surgery is an option that helps disguise a little more the burns. It is common after a severe burn injury that the recovery process also includes a plastic surgery to improve the appearance, sensation and mobility of the affected area, each surgical technique will depend on the severity of the trauma caused and the part of the body that has been affected.

Remembering that burns are injuries caused by prolonged exposure of the skin to sunlight, contact with flames or gases, chemicals or electric current, it is necessary to know how to identify their visible types and conditions:

• First degree burns: They are limited to the superficial layer of the skin epidermis, it is the lesion with less severity. It does not form blisters and in a few days there is a peeling that will not leave scars. This type of burns is also generated by prolonged exposure to sunlight on the beach or the mountain but is known as insolation.
• Second degree burns: This type of burns affects the epidermis and upper face of the dermis, blisters and serum exudation are formed, it is painful and extremely sensitive to punctures. It is a burn that is cured after three or four weeks with local epidermis, hair follicles and sebaceous glands.
• Third-degree burns: This is a severe burn that destroys the entire thickness of the skin, including all its appendages or skin attachments affecting sensitivity. The scars left by this type of burns are irregular with atrophic and other hypertrophic or keloid parts. It is a burn that could evolve during the first 24 or 48 hours which makes it difficult to be certain of the real depth of the injury.

• Skin grafts: The surgery consists of the removal of the skin from a part of the body to graft it in the affected area, usually the skin that is extracted belongs to a part of the body that is covered with clothes. The recovery process of this plastic surgery can take three weeks or more.
• Microsurgery: The surgeon uses a microscope that helps with the reconstruction process. It is ideal for repairing nerves or blood vessels and reconnecting them again.
• Tissue expansion: It is a technique that allows healthy skin to grow in the body to be used as reconstructive surgery. This procedure consists of the insertion of an instrument near the part to be reconstructed, it is filled with saline solution that will cause the skin to expand and grow slowly. Once the new skin has formed it can be used as a reconstructive surgery. The recovery process of this technique can take up to 4 months.