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| Microsurgery,
or better expressed, the reconstruction utilizing microsurgical techniques,
constitutes an important area within Plastic Surgery. Microsurgical techniques
are those procedures which require image magnification of the surgical
field; this is obtained by means of a special surgical microscope, and
in some cases with the use of equally special magnifying loupes. The fact
that a certain surgical procedure requires magnification means that we
need to reconstruct anatomic structures so small that in some cases measure
less than 1 millimeter in diameter; for this purpose, we need highly precise
instruments and suture materials barely distinguished with plain vision.
In medicine, microsurgery has several fields of application and it is common to various medical specialties. In Plastic Surgery for example, it is used to replant an amputated segment of the body (a finger, a hand or an ear for example). Certain conditions must be met before replantation is attempted, such as the correct conservation and transportation of the patient and of the amputated segment to a microsurgery center; equally important is the evaluation of the damage suffered to both ends of the amputation, the patient’s age and the presence of preexisting diseases, as well as other factors particular to each case. Another area where microsurgical technique is applied is found in what we denominate tissue transfer. There are various modalities, for example, a person who is born without a thumb, or a person that suffers thumb amputation by trauma without possibility for replantation. In cases like these, it is possible to consider the reconstruction of such an important structure with the transplantation of a toe to the hand, Today, reconstructions like these are common in many hospitals of our country, with impressive results. In another example, a person who is born without an ear, or suffers traumatic loss of the ear can be benefited by the use of microsurgical techniques for reconstruction of this structure, in an equally efficient manner. The field of microsurgery is extremely vast in Plastic Surgery. Today, it is possible to reconstruct a series of structures and organs that only a few years back required lengthy and arduous treatments with limited result techniques, or that simply were impossible to reconstruct. To observe a reconstructed breast with its areola-nipple complex and its similarity to the healthy contra lateral breast is to observe a woman who has been reborn. After a devastating and terrible illness has taken away part of her anatomy, a Plastic Surgeon can return her integrity and avoid the permanent loss of an organ and all its disadvantages to the female patient. Aspects
such as those described in these examples are recreated day to day in our
specialty and provide or permit us to provide patients with up to date
quality options with endless possibilities for future development.
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