Reconstruction of soft-tissue lesions of the foot with the use of the medial plantar flap

Heel Pad Reconstruction With Medial Plantar Flap

The heel of the foot is covered by highly specialized thick, glabrous skin containing fibroadipose tissue with numerous fibrous septae traversing the subcutaneous tissue, which acts as a shock-absorbent and prevents shearing of the skin. The loss of heel pad would cause interruption of the propelling function of the foot during walking. Therefore, heel pad reconstruction is an important procedure for wound closure in the acute phase and also functional reconstruction in delayed cases. We report a case of heel pad deformity in a patient who presented to us with left heel pain and inability to fully bear weight, which has caused her walking difficulty, following a road traffic accident. She sustained a degloving injury of the left foot and an open fracture of left calcaneum with ruptured Tendon Achilles in which the wound was initially addressed with failed reverse sural flap and the wound was allowed to heal by secondary intention. Delayed heel reconstruction was carried out with a propeller medial plantar flap and split skin graft. Postoperatively, the patient had improved functional and esthetic outcome.