Reconstructive Surgery

Reconstructive surgery restores form and function to parts of the body damaged by injury, cancer treatment, infection, burns or birth differences. It is the larger half of plastic surgery and differs from cosmetic surgery in its aim: to get you back towards normal rather than to enhance what is already normal.

Surgeons choose the simplest method that will work, moving up a ladder from direct closure to skin grafts, local flaps, tissue expansion and, for the most complex defects, free tissue transfer using microsurgery. Results are often very good but rarely invisible, and staged surgery is common.

Conditions this service looks after

• Defects after removal of skin cancer on the face, scalp or limbs
• Wounds and scars after accidents, including facial fractures and soft tissue loss
• Burn scars and contractures that limit movement
• Breast loss after mastectomy
• Chronic wounds and pressure sores
• Skin loss after severe infection such as necrotising fasciitis, or after hidradenitis surgery
• Head and neck defects after cancer surgery
• Congenital differences such as cleft lip, ear and hand anomalies
• Lymphoedema and facial paralysis

Tests you may be offered

• Wound and scar assessment: Size, depth, blood supply, sensation and what lies exposed, such as bone or tendon.
• Pathology review: After cancer, confirmation that margins are clear before a definitive repair.
• CT or MR angiography: Maps blood vessels before flap surgery.
• Doppler ultrasound: Locates small perforator vessels at the bedside.
• Nutrition and blood tests: Albumin, haemoglobin and glucose control strongly affect wound healing.
• Photography and function scores: Record the starting point for movement and appearance.

Treatments available

• Skin grafts: Split or full thickness skin for clean, well-supplied wound beds.
• Local and regional flaps: Nearby tissue moved with its own blood supply, the workhorse for the face after skin cancer.
• Tissue expansion: Grows extra matching skin next to a scar or defect over weeks.
• Free flaps and microsurgery: Tissue from the thigh, abdomen, back or fibula reconnected to vessels at the defect.
• Breast reconstruction: With implants or your own tissue, immediate or delayed.
• Scar revision and contracture release: Z-plasty, grafts and flaps to free tight scars.
• Fat grafting: Improves contour and the quality of scarred or irradiated skin.
• Nerve and tendon repair: Restores movement and feeling after limb and hand injuries.

When to ask for a specialist opinion

• You have a wound that has not healed after 4 to 6 weeks
• A scar limits movement of a joint, eyelid or mouth
• You are due to have a cancer removed from the face and want the repair planned in advance
• You are unhappy with a previous reconstruction and want to know the options
• You were told nothing more can be done and want another opinion

Travelling to Türkiye for this care

Fresh injuries, burns and infections must be treated where you are; travel is unsafe and delays care. Planned, late reconstruction is different. Scar revision, contracture release, grafting, flap repair of stable defects and delayed breast reconstruction can be scheduled for a visit, provided you can stay long enough. Allow 1 to 2 weeks for grafts and local flaps and 2 to 3 weeks for free flaps. Tissue expansion and staged flaps need either a stay of many weeks or several trips. Send photographs, operation notes and pathology reports in advance so that the surgeon can tell you honestly what is achievable.

Send your reports, scans and a short history and a Clinic-Y coordinator replies within 24 hours with suitable teams and written, all-inclusive proposals side by side. Reviewing your case is free.

Frequently Asked Questions