Skin flap is also called pedicled skin grafting. According to modern view, skin flap is a tissue block composed of skin and subcutaneous tissue, which can be transferred from one part of the body to another. One or two pedicles need to be connected during the transfer process, or temporarily not connected, and then vascular anastomosis is performed after transplantation.

The blood supply and nutrition of the flap depend entirely on the supply of pedicle in the early stage. When the skin flap heals at the skin graft site for about 3 weeks, a new blood circulation system is gradually established, and the pedicle can be cut off, and the skin flap transplantation process is over. Sometimes, some flaps can also be pedicled continuously, such as local rotating flap or progressive flap.

After skin flap transfer, due to its full-thickness skin and rich adipose tissue, its contraction force is much less than that of free skin flap, and it can tolerate external friction and maintain the original color of skin flap before transfer. Skin flap can cover deep wounds and protect deep tissues in cosmetic plastic surgery, which is an ideal material for cosmetic plastic surgery of organs and bodies. Such as nasal reconstruction, lip deformity correction, eyelid ectropion correction, ear reconstruction, breast reconstruction, penis reconstruction and so on. In craniofacial plastic surgery, skin flap transplantation, especially local rotating skin flap transfer, is also indispensable for scar resection and scalp defect repair after plastic surgery.

Because the supply area of facial flap is small, it is not suitable for large-scale cosmetic surgery. For large-area facial defects (such as large-area hemangioma resection, large-area nevus resection or large-area scar resection), cosmetic plastic surgeons can also use distal flaps for plastic surgery, such as chest triangle flap and neck flap. This flap has several advantages in facial plastic surgery: first, the repair area is large; Second, the donor site is hidden, and the scar is not easy to be exposed after healing in the future; Third, the skin color of the donor site is close to the facial skin, and the skin color after facial plastic surgery is close or not much different. However, the plastic surgery of the distal flap is complicated and time-consuming, and its appearance is a little bloated after operation, and sometimes it needs a second degreasing and trimming operation.