Surgery for Skin lesions in children may involve developmental conditions present at birth or acquired lesions later. Reconstructive soft tissue surgery for children is one of the treatment options.
Developmental conditions such as dermatoid cysts, are commonly seen in the head and neck area most usually adjacent to the eyebrow. Though, they can occur in other areas.
Soft tissue lumps may develop and in children. A Pilomatrixoma is one of the commonest ones seen.
Removal of tissue lumps, and pigmented skin lesions may are usually straightforward and performed as day-case surgery under general anaesthetic after the age of 12 months.
Pigmented skin lesions (moles)that are changing may need removal and this is done as a straightforward general anaesthetic day-case procedure in young children but may be performed with local anaesthetic in older children.
present from birth and in a visible area of the body may be considered for surgery, if the child is concerned. More than one episode of surgery to remove them, and a process called tissue expansion may need to be considered.
This involves inserting a balloon expander to stretch the tissue with a series of expansion episodes before it is removed. Then, the newly expanded skin can be repositioned.
Scar revision is usually performed after at least 18 months has elapsed to allow tissues to mature and heal.
Depending on the extent of scarring more than one episode of surgery may be needed. Laser treatment is sometimes helpful also. A number of conditions can be tackled using reconstructive soft tissue surgery for children.