Distally based dorsal metacarpal flaps: a review of a series of patients treated in a 6-month period.

The management of dorsal digital and hand injuries can pose a difficult problem to the trainee surgeon. Often repair involves using tissue from neighbouring digits. Our experience using local perforator flaps based on the direct cutaneous branch of the dorsal metacarpal arteries shows that these can be dissected and used successfully in the management of complex injuries of the dorsum of the hand and proximal phalanges. The flap has been used in a series of seven patients treated over a 6-month period by plastic surgery trainees with 100% success. This one-stage procedure resulted in good functional and aesthetic outcome and left an acceptable donor scar.