Reconstruction of distal foot wounds with reverse first dorsal metatarsal artery flap

Reconstruction of the distal portion of the foot has always represented a difficult problem in plastic surgery. We report a distally based dorsalis pedis island flap based on the first dorsal metatarsal artery, which has been successfully used to treat the distal portion of the foot in eight patients. The size of flaps ranged from 3 cm x 4 cm to 6 cm x 7 cm. In seven patients, the transferred flaps survived completely and in one flap there was superficial marginal necrosis. There was no donor site morbidity. All the patients had no difficulty in wearing shoes and were walking within 6 weeks. We suggest that the reverse first dorsal metatarsal artery flaps is a good option to reconstruct the wound of distal foot. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.