Free flap

Imagine your body is like a house and your blood vessels are the pipes that carry water throughout the house. Sometimes, the pipes in your body can get damaged or blocked, which can cause a lot of problems. Free flap surgery is like fixing those damaged pipes.

During a free flap surgery, doctors take a piece of healthy skin, muscle, or bone from one part of your body and move it to another part that needs repairing. Just like how a plumber would replace a damaged pipe with a new one.

But how do they move the healthy tissue from one place to another? Well, they use something called blood vessels. Blood vessels are like small tubes that carry blood and oxygen to different parts of your body. Doctors carefully detach the healthy tissue along with its blood vessels from the original location and carefully sew it onto the new place where it's needed. It's like connecting the pipes to the new location in your house.

Once the healthy tissue is attached to the new location, the blood vessels start carrying blood and oxygen to keep the tissue alive and healthy. This is very important, just like how water is important for the pipes to work properly in your house.

Now, why does someone need a free flap surgery? It can be because of different reasons. Sometimes, people have injuries or accidents that damage their tissue, like a bad cut or a burn. Other times, people have medical conditions that cause their tissue to die or not work properly.

But don't worry! With free flap surgery, doctors can move the healthy tissue to the damaged area and help it heal and work better. Just like how a plumber fixes pipes, doctors can fix your body with free flap surgery!