The most common lower limb injuries are caused by motor vehicle or sporting accidents.

When the skin is unbroken and the surrounding tissue undamaged, treatment can be administered by an orthopaedic surgeon alone. However, with open fractures or when the bone is protruding from the tissue, reconstructive plastic surgeons may need to join the orthopaedic surgeon to treat the injury.

Timely treatment for open fractures is a necessity as exposed tissue is vulnerable to infection and can make the area more difficult to treat in the future.

There are two stages to repairing open fractures on the lower limbs.

1. Orthopaedic surgery – depending on the fracture, this surgery can be simple or more complex.
2. Reconstruction – once the bone has been repaired by the orthopaedic surgeon, our reconstructive plastic surgeon will use flap reconstruction to repair the damaged tissue. Our surgeon will transfer tissue and blood vessels from another site in the body (donor site) to repair the wound. They will either use local flaps, which are connected to their blood supply, or free flaps, which are separated and need to be reconnected when they are placed at the site of the wound.