Facial Reconstruction Specialist

What is facial reconstruction?

Facial reconstruction is a surgery that improves your appearance by reducing or eliminating scarring. If you have a cancerous lesion or mole on your lips, ears, nose, or any other part of your face, removing it can leave a scar that greatly affects your appearance. 

At Arizona Ocular & Facial Plastic Surgery, Dr. Heringer evaluates your facial scarring and plans your personalized facial reconstruction surgery accordingly. He discusses your options for anesthesia and sedation based on the extent of the repairs. He also gives you postoperative instructions to follow after the surgery is complete. 

What techniques are used in facial reconstruction?

Dr. Heringer uses the following techniques for your facial reconstruction surgery:

Skin grafting

For skin grafting, Dr. Heringer removes a small section of healthy skin from another part of your body. He makes sure the section matches the shape of the scar and sutures it into place. 

Flap techniques

Instead of a skin graft, Dr. Heringer might repair your scar with a skin flap adjacent to the scar. He cuts the flap of healthy skin still attached at one side and sutures it in its new place over the scar. Flap techniques are often preferable because the flap still gets its original blood supply. 

What is eyelid reconstruction?

Your eyelids are especially delicate and prone to scarring after cancerous lesion or mole removal. Dr. Heringer uses the same techniques as facial reconstruction to carefully repair scars on your eyelids without compromising their function. 

At Arizona Ocular & Facial Plastic Surgery, Dr. Heringer often sees patients after Mohs surgery, a technique used to remove moles and cancerous lesions on delicate areas of skin like your eyelids. Mohs surgery is minimally invasive and causes little damage to nearby healthy skin and tissue. 

With Mohs surgery, a dermatologist removes one thin layer of the lesion at a time. They take it to a lab to examine it for cancer cells before removing subsequent layers until there are no cancer cells left. Even though there is typically minimal scarring after Mohs surgery, you may still consider eyelid reconstruction to repair a scar. 

Am I a good candidate for facial reconstruction?

Before you get face or eyelid reconstruction surgery, you should visit Arizona Ocular & Facial Plastic Surgery for a consultation with Dr. Heringer. He reviews your medical history and makes sure your goals align with the abilities of the surgery. 

In order to be a candidate, you should:

• Stop smoking for some time before and after the procedure
• Have no more malignant cancer cells in the region
• Want to restore your appearance after skin cancer removal
• Be in good general health

If you’re not currently a candidate for facial or eyelid reconstruction, Dr. Heringer can work with you to create a treatment plan that includes surgery at another time.

If you have scarring left over from skin cancer removal on your face or eyelid, don’t hesitate to call Arizona Ocular & Facial Plastic Surgery or book a consultation for facial reconstruction online today.