Paul Tessier facial reconstruction in 1970 Iran, a series of post-noma defects

BackgroundPaul Tessier was a pioneering plastic surgeon who founded craniofacial surgery and had an international influence in the field of reconstructive surgery. We reviewed his techniques in the reconstruction of post-noma defects in Iran in the late 1970s.Patients and methodsWe studied a series of 23 patients operated on by Tessier from 1974 to 1978 in Iran (property of Association Française des Chirurgiens de la Face). They all suffered from noma in childhood with major facial defects.ResultsTen suffered from simple lip and cheek defects, nine also from nose defects and four from extensive facial defects. Abbe flaps were used in 15 patients to reconstruct the lips completed by commissuroplasty in six patients. Nose defects were reconstructed with nasofrontal flaps (ten cases). The outer cheek was reconstructed with a rotation flap (four cases), or with a frontotemporal flap (six cases). The inner cheek was reconstructed using a Barron–Tessier myocutaneous flap (ten cases). Of the 23 patients, partial flap necrosis occurred in five cases.ConclusionsTessier was a pioneering plastic surgeon who used local flaps to reconstruct these important facial defects. He had a high rate of success, although nowadays local flaps are commonly replaced by free flaps.