What is a Y-V plastic?
The Y-V-plasty is a type of skin flap plastic surgery. It is used in particular to redistribute skin tension. It is standard for defect coverage.
Explanation of the Y-V plastic
The continuous Y-V plastic is also called Y-W plastic. The following image shows the principle. The corners of the Y are moved as shown by the small green arrows, resulting in a continuous W-shaped seam or scar. In this way, length can be gained at the expense of width.
Application
The following indications exist for this skin flap technique in plastic surgery and hand surgery:
- In some cases, a sensible redistribution of skin tension can be achieved for burns.
- In Dupuytren’s disease, the skin of the fingers is often shortened in the longitudinal direction. At the expense of the circumference of the fingers, the skin deficit (longitudinal) can often be compensated for by means of this skin flap operation, so that a skin graft is not necessary.
