Distal limb and paw injuries

Distal limb reconstruction is complicated by the paucity of local tissues and the frequent association of orthopedic injury with cutaneous loss. Second-intention healing or skin stretching techniques are used for wounds involving less than a 30% circumference of the limb. Skin grafts are recommended for reconstruction of larger superficial wounds after establishing a bed of granulation tissue or for immediate reconstruction of clean wounds overlying healthy muscle. Wounds complicated by orthopedic injury benefit from early reconstruction using vascularized tis-sue. Weight-bearing surface reconstruction and management of partial amputation injuries are functionally difficult because of the environmental stress placed on the paw pads. Paw pad grafts, paw pad transposition techniques, centralization of digits, and microvascular free tissue trans-fer of paw pads can be considered for weight-bearing surface reconstruction. Definitive guidelines describing when each of these techniques should be used have not been established.