Vascularized nail flap vs. free nail graft

Summary With recent improvements in microvascular surgery, the vascularized nail flap procedure has had considerable success. On the other hand, free nail graft without microvascular anastomoses is still used but little has been published to make a comparison between these two procedures. Thus, it is not known which is the better procedure. In the past, hand nail defects in 12 patients have been reconstructed by the free nail graft procedure and in four patients by vascularized nail flap procedure. In this article, the free nail graft is compared with the vascularized nail flap and the merits and demerits of both techniques are presented. Requests for reprints: T. Endo, M.D.