Forehead flap: reliability and versatility

Objectives: To determine the reliability and versatility of forehead flap in terms of frequency of complications and uses. Study design: Cross-sectional observational study Settings: This study was performed from January, 2014 to December, 2018 in the departments of Plastic and Burns Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar and Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar. Material and Methods: After approval from the ethical committee, the data was collected of all patients in whom forehead flap was performed, was collected from hospital's record. The data were analyzed and organized to assess the demographics, etiologies of defects covered, type of flap used and frequency of complications. The results were projected in the form of tables and figures. Results: A total of 26 patients, including 17 (65.4 percent) male and 9 (34.6 percent) female patients with age ranging from 10 years to 70 years (mean 47 + 1.89) met the inclusion criteria. Nose was the most common site of defects with the main etiology of surgical excision of malignancies. The paramedian variant of forehead flap was performed in 69.2 percent which was used as island in 15.4 percent cases. We observed insignificant partial necrosis of the forehead flap in 3.8 percent case. In 76.9 percent case the donor forehead defect was closed primarily. Conclusion: The forehead flap is a very reliable flap for nasal and upper facial defects with good aesthetic results and low complication rates. (author)