LIPOFILLING FOR FUNCTIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOLE OF THE FOOT

tBackground: New advances in regenerative surgery may increase the potential for rehabilitation in theinjured foot.Objectives: A clinical prospective observational study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of lipofill-ing to improve the functional recovery of the injured foot.Methods: Four patients with anatomical–functional impairment following repair of post-traumatic softtissue loss of the foot were involved in the study. All of the patients complained of pain in the repairedplantar weight bearing area, skin instability, recurrent ulcerations and were walking on crutches.A combined plastic surgery and technical orthopaedic assessment identified the plantar areas requiringanatomical changes for load redistribution. Two selective sequential lipofillings with a 12 weeks’ timeinterval were performed. Manufacturing of custom-made plantar insoles and/or shoes followed eachsurgical procedure.Results: After the treatment all of the patients progressively recovered both a better plantar load distri-bution and a local soft tissue stability, referred the remission of chronic pain and discontinued the use ofcrutches.Conclusion: Lipofilling proved to be an effective and versatile surgical technique for both reconstructiveand regenerative purposes. The interaction between the Plastic Surgery staff and the Orthopaedic Tech-nician outlined a successful multidisciplinary approach model for the rehabilitation of the injured foot