J Dermatol Plast Surg | Volume 2, Issue 1 | Research Article | Open Access
Osamu Ito1*, Tomoyuki Yano1, Minako Ito2 and Takayuki Shirai1
1Department of Plastic Surgery, Yokohama City Minato Red Cross Hospital, Japan
2Medical Check-up Center, Yokohama City Minato Red Cross Hospital, Japan
Background: Tissue expanders are usually inflated with saline. We attempted to mitigate the side effects of the weight of the tissue expanders by replacing some of the saline with air.
Methods: Of the 23 patients who were implanted with tissue expanders at our hospital, 7 complained of discomfort resulting from awareness of implant expansion and consciousness of implant weight, and 3 showed marked malposition. For these 10 patients, we replaced some of the saline with air to alleviate their symptoms.
Results: Symptoms improved in all 10 patients without complications, and their tissue expanders were eventually replaced with permanent implants. Conclusions: No difference was observed between the 10 patients with tissue expanders inflated partially with air and the 13 for whom, only saline was used. Inflating tissue expanders with a mixture of air and saline is a good way to prevent side effects related to expander weight.
Ito O, Yano T, Ito M, Shirai T. Partial Air Expansion. J Dermatol Plast Surg. 2017; 2(1): 1010.