Excised Abdominoplasty Material as a Systematic Plastic Surgical Training Model

Achieving a level of technical skill and confidence in surgical operations is the main goal of plastic surgical training. Operating rooms were accepted as the practical teaching venues of the traditional apprenticeship model. However, increased patient population, time, and ethical and legal considerations made preoperation room practical work a must for plastic surgical training. There are several plastic surgical teaching models and simulators which are very useful in preoperation room practical training and the evaluation of plastic surgery residents. The full thickness skin with its vascular network excised in abdominoplasty procedures is an easily obtainable real human tissue which could be used as a training model in plastic surgery. 1. Introduction Academic plastic surgeons have an important role of teaching future plastic surgeons to help them improve their technical skills. Most of this educational practical work is done in operating rooms. However, nowadays this traditional apprenticeship model is slightly shifting to more modern and standardized approaches. Increased patient population, quick turn-over, ethical and legal considerations, and lack of time could be counted as leading factors. Because of these factors supplementary approaches for technical skill training are needed [1, 2]. Abdominoplasty is one of the common procedures performed in plastic surgery departments. The full thickness skin and subcutaneous tissue below the umbilicus are generally excised as a complete island in the procedure. This full thickness skin with its vascular network is a great material to practice surgery on. Keeping this in mind, we aimed to present a practical teaching method which allows the residents to perform basic plastic surgical techniques on human tissue outside the operating room. 2. Training Model We designed a practical teaching session for the residents of our department on excised fresh abdominoplasty material. Since abdominoplasty operations are common procedures obtaining material for workshop was not hard. The patient’s written approval for this educational session was taken before the planned operation. It was especially planned for the first 3-year residents to have this workshop, but other residents and senior surgeons also participated in this session. Plastic surgical techniques available to study on excised abdominoplasty material were defined as, primary suture technique, full thickness skin graft harvesting, split thickness skin graft harvesting, planning and dissection of local flaps, z-plasty procedures, and microsurgical training