[Microsurgery and reconstruction in facial oncology]

The desire to improve the post-operative lives of throat cancer patients and the additional problem posed by trying to conceal visible facial scars are the main motivations of reconstructive surgery in facial cancer treatment. In this field, microsurgical techniques have found their place and are used to the upmost efficiency when the final result is taken into account. Even better, these techniques are used to attempt an accurate reconstruction of different structures destroyed by the tumor or drastic surgical intervention, by using other parts of the patient's body. Microsurgery is bringing us closer to the miracles of Cosmas and Damian, the legend that surrounds. Tagliacozzi, the figures of surrealistic pantings, and the universival myth of the mask... The relative youth of these techniques in the facial cancer field and the lack of effective medical treatments lead us to believe that its potential growth is quite large and promising. Four distinct chapters are used to illustrate the different microsurgical techniques in cutaneous tissue loss, mucous tissue loss, bony tissue loss and the repair of sequellas. But reality reminds us that tissue composition is much more complex and that even today, microsurgery offers only a crude replacement in relation to the structures that it seeks to reconstruct.