It creates skin that matches the color, texture, and thickness of the surrounding tissue, while minimizing scars and risk of rejection.
Stretching the skin beyond normal expansion invokes several mechanotransduction pathways which increase mitotic activity and promote collagen synthesis.
[5] Recent studies have demonstrated that using topical tissue expansion can reduce the need for a split thickness skin graft after harvesting a forearm free flap.
Areas of significant scarring and/or tissue atrophy, which is likely to make hair grafting unsuccessful, are best excised and replaced by normal expanded scalp skin.
[10] Non-surgical tissue expansion techniques can expand one's surviving penile skin, making it a longer tube so it can function like a foreskin.
In reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, bone expanders have been used to elongate the mandibula in cases of congenital disorders, trauma, tumors, etc.
In the case of asthma or chronic bronchitis the human body responds to allergens or pollutants by flooding the bronchial tree and airway walls with mononuclear cells.
The layers of the airway wall, including the inner epithelial tissue lining thickens and expands anywhere from 10% to 300% of healthy individuals, and obstructs air flow.
[17] Inflammation in a constricted cylinder, as with an airway, eventually folds over on itself, leading to mechanically studied buckling patterns and growth relationships within tissue linings.
This process is supported by a tiny valve mechanism located inside the expander and it will continue until its size is slightly larger than the other breast.
This tissue expander is removed after a few months and microvascular flap reconstruction or the insertion of a permanent breast implant is done at the time.
Tissue expanders have silicone outer shells and either an internal valve or external port to allow for saline fluid injections.
Multiple engineered tissue-derived and tissue-like substances have made it through the FDA and into the market, though financial success has been moderate.
[22] Limitations of this strategy include long incubation times, as well as difficulty in mimicking that exact mechanical and biological properties of functional skin.
[23] However, benefits range from decreased donor site morbidity (as a result of no longer needing to harvest from skin expansion) as well as a ready-available source of materials for emergency medicine in the case of traumatic burn or injury.