Skip to Content
800-533-8762
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Health Care Professionals
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
UPMC
  • Find a Doctor
  • Services
    • Frequently Searched Services
    • Frequently Searched Services
      Allergy & Immunology Behavioral & Mental Health Cancer Ear, Nose & Throat Endocrinology Gastroenterology Heart & Vascular Imaging Neurosciences Orthopaedics
      Physical Rehabilitation Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Primary Care Senior Services Sports Medicine Telemedicine Transplant Surgery Walk-In Care Weight Management Women’s Health
      See all Services
    • Services by Region
    • Find a UPMC health care facility close to you quickly by browsing by region.
      UPMC in Western Pa. Western Pa. and New York
      UPMC in Central Pa. Central Pa.
      UPMC in North Central Pa. North Central Pa.
      UPMC in Western Md. Maryland & West Virginia
    • See All Services
  • Locations
    • Locations by Type
    • Locations by Type
      UPMC hospitals
      Hospitals
      Physical Therapy
      Physical Therapy
      Urgent care
      Walk-In Care
      UPMC Outpatient Centers
      Outpatient Centers
      UPMC Imaging Services
      Imaging
      Community Health Centers
      Community Health Centers
      See All Locations
    • Locations by Region
    • Locations by Region
      UPMC in Southwest Pa. Southwest Pa.
      UPMC in North Central Pa. North Central Pa.
      UPMC in Northwest Pa and Ny. Northwest Pa. & Western N.Y.
      UPMC in West Central Pa. West Central Pa.
      UPMC in Central Pa. Central Pa.
      UPMC in Western Md. Maryland & West Virginia
    • See All Locations
  • Patients & Visitors
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
      Patients and Visitors Resources Pay a Bill Classes & Events Medical Records Health Library Patient Information
      Patient Portals Privacy Information Shared Decision Making Traveling Patients Visitor Information
      Man uses mobile phone
      Pay a Bill
      Nurse reviews medical chart
      Request Medical Records
  • Patient Portals
  • Find Covid-19 updates
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Request medical records
  • Pay a bill
  • Learn about financial assistance
  • Find classes & events
  • Send a patient an eCard
  • Make a donation
  • Volunteer
  • Read HealthBeat blog
  • Explore UPMC Careers
Skip to Content
UPMC
  • Patient Portals
  • For Patients & Visitors
    • Find a Doctor
    • Locations
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
    • Pay a Bill
    • Services
    • More
      • Medical Records
      • Financial Assistance
      • Classes & Events
      • HealthBeat Blog
      • Health Library
  • About UPMC
    • Why UPMC
    • Facts & Stats
    • Supply Chain Management
    • Community Commitment
    • More
      • Financials
      • Support UPMC
      • UPMC Apps
      • UPMC Enterprises
      • UPMC International
  • For Health Care Professionals
    • Physician Information
    • Resources
    • Education & Training
    • Departments
    • Credentialing
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Newsroom
  • UPMC >
  • Our Services >
  • Ear, Nose, & Throat >
  • ... >
  • Our Services >
  • Skull Base Tumors and Head & Neck Surgery >
  • Microvascular and Reconstructive Face Surgery
Ear, Nose, & Throat
About Us
Conditions We Treat
Our Services
Hearing and Balance
Voice, Speech and Swallowing
Allergy, Sinus, Nose and Sleep Disorders
Skull Base Tumors and Head & Neck Surgery
Head and Neck Cancer
Microvascular and Reconstructive Face Surgery
Robotic Head and Neck Surgery Center
Salivary Gland and Infection Center
Center for Skull Base Surgery
Facial Nerves and Plastic Surgery
For Patients
For Professionals & Students
Our Locations
Ear, Nose, & Throat
About Us
Conditions We Treat
Our Services
Hearing and Balance
Voice, Speech and Swallowing
Allergy, Sinus, Nose and Sleep Disorders
Skull Base Tumors and Head & Neck Surgery
Head and Neck Cancer
Microvascular and Reconstructive Face Surgery
Robotic Head and Neck Surgery Center
Salivary Gland and Infection Center
Center for Skull Base Surgery
Facial Nerves and Plastic Surgery
For Patients
For Professionals & Students
Our Locations

Chat Keywords List

  • cancel or exit: Stops your conversation
  • start over: Restarts your current scenario
  • help: Shows what this bot can do
  • terms: Shows terms of use and privacy statement
  • feedback: Give us feedback
Continue
Chat with UPMC
RESTART
MENU
CLOSE

Microvascular and Reconstructive Face Surgery

A person who has had a trauma or major medical treatment to their face, mouth, or throat may have an altered look. They may also have issues speaking, chewing, and swallowing.

Microvascular reconstructive surgery can fix these issues. Using the person's own tissue, this approach can fix mouth, tongue, jaw, or cheek problems.

The UPMC Eye and Ear Institute team works together to create the most natural look and the best day-to-day function.

To make an appointment, call 412-647-2100, Option 2.

We're one of the few centers in North America to perform more than 150 of these complex surgeries each year.

Using 3D technology, we precisely plan each surgery to reduce operating time and help promote the best outcomes.

What Is Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery?

In microvascular reconstructive surgery, the surgeon:

  • Takes tissue from another part of your body, which may include skin, bone, or muscle.
  • Transplants this tissue, which includes an artery and veins, to the head for reconstruction.
  • Carefully closes the site where the tissue came from.
  • Restores the form and function of the head and neck area with the transplanted tissue.

Because the transplanted tissue is your own, the body doesn't reject it.

What Conditions Do You Treat with Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery?

We use this surgery to treat the following head and neck problems:

  • Cancer of the mouth, nose, throat, sinuses, skin, and jaw.
  • Benign tumors of the mouth, nose, throat, sinuses, skin, and jaw.
  • Trauma to the face.

What Is Reconstructive Surgery After Head and Neck Cancer?

Cancers can destroy healthy tissue.

When a surgeon removes cancer, this can leave a gap or hole where you would normally have healthy tissue.

A reconstructive surgery team can rebuild many tissue types and help restore function.

These include:

  • Skin.
  • Gums.
  • Upper jaw.
  • Throat.
  • Tongue.

Sometimes, tumors spread to the bones of the face. In this case, surgeons also need to remove part of the upper or lower jawbone. The reconstructive surgical team will rebuild the bone.

How Does a Surgeon Do Microvascular Surgery?

In reconstructive surgery, the surgeon uses a person's tissue and, if needed, bone. This surgery often happens right after removing cancer or a benign tumor.

Before surgery, the team will:

  • Plan out what they need to reconstruct.
  • Decide what skin from another part of your body will work best.
  • Explain each step of the surgery process and the risks and benefits.

If there's more than one option, they will discuss the pros and cons of each.

The team may use 3D modeling to plan your surgery.

On the day of the surgery, your care team will:

  • Remove a section of tissue — and sometimes bone — from the arm, leg, or shoulder, which they will use for reconstruction.
  • Close this site, called the "donor area," with stitches (and a skin graft, potentially).
  • Attach the blood vessels in the transplanted tissue to blood vessels in the neck. This brings blood supply to the tissue.
  • Secure the flap tissue to the existing jaw or mouth tissue. If a bone transfer is necessary, they affix it to the existing jawbone with titanium plates and medical-grade screws.

Most people are in the hospital for a week to 10 days. This lets the health care team watch for issues after surgery, like an infection.

What Types of Microvascular Reconstructive Techniques Do You Offer at UPMC?

Microvascular reconstructive surgery uses many techniques and approaches to get the best result. That includes removing flaps of skin, muscle, and sometimes bone from various parts of the body.

For an ALT flap, the surgeon:

  • Takes a piece of skin and tissue, including blood vessels, from the front of the thigh.
  • Stitches the thigh closed.
  • Cuts and molds the flap tissue to match the missing part of your mouth, tongue, or cheek.

The surgical team may choose a fibular flap when they need to rebuild the jawbone.

For this technique, the team:

  • Removes a portion of the fibula — the smaller of two bones in the calf.
  • Takes some of the skin and blood vessels attached to the fibula. This way, the new jawbone will have a good blood supply and natural skin covering.
  • Cuts the fibula bone to match the missing jaw.

The fibula is not critical for walking or leg movement.

Over time and with therapy, you can walk, run, and play sports without a full fibula.

For a forearm flap, the surgeon will:

  • Remove tissue and blood vessels from the forearm. They won't take any muscles or tendons, so hand function is not affected.
  • Often take a skin graft from the thigh to close a small portion of the wound in the forearm.
  • Shape and cut the flap and then attach the blood vessels and tissue to reconstruct the face, mouth, or throat.

A scapular flap is an alternative option to the fibular flap for surgery that needs bone and tissue.

For a scapular flap, the surgeon will:

  • Remove a small piece of bone, tissue, and blood vessels from the shoulder blade.
  • Shape the flap to the jaw and facial tissue and attach it to blood vessels.
  • Use titanium plates, medical screws, and stitches to keep the flap in place.

People often have weakness in the shoulder after this surgery. But it usually gets better after about six weeks of physical therapy.

How do I take care of the flap site after I go home?

After your surgery, the nurse will bandage and clean the flap site as you heal in the hospital.

They will teach you how to clean and wrap the flap donor site at home. Following their instructions for caring for the wound is vital.

You may need therapy to ensure optimal arm, hand, shoulder, or leg and foot use. By starting this early and doing all of the suggested exercises, you can greatly increase your chance of a full recovery.

Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery Benefits and Risks

There are many benefits, such as:

  • A more natural-looking result.
  • Increased chances of speaking, chewing, and swallowing normally, compared to other reconstructive options.
  • Essential for reconstruction during surgeries requiring major removal of cancers of the face, mouth, and throat.

Microvascular reconstructive surgeries are complex. This means it takes longer to recover.

You'll be in the hospital for a week to 10 days so we can watch for and treat any complications.

Risks of microvascular surgery include:

  • Infection. Doctors treat this with antibiotics and (sometimes) surgery.
  • A blood clot in a reattached artery or vein from the transplanted tissue. Treatment involves blood thinners, surgery to remove the clot, or both.
  • Flap failure. The reconstructed tissue can die if there's an issue with the blood supply. This is a very rare risk.
  • Poor healing of the donor site. This can require wound cleaning or other treatments.
  • Some numbness in the foot, in the case of fibular flap surgery.
  • Walking problems after fibular flap surgery. This is extremely rare.
  • Longer-term shoulder weakness or a lower range of motion in the shoulder. This is a rare risk of scapular flap surgery.

Make an Appointment at the UPMC Eye and Ear Institute

Call 412-647-2100, Option 2, to plan a visit or make an appointment online.

Our address:

203 Lothrop St., Suite 300
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

UPMC
200 Lothrop Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213

412-647-8762 800-533-8762

Patients And Visitors
  • Find a Doctor
  • Locations
  • Pay a Bill
  • Patient & Visitor Resources
  • Disabilities Resource Center
  • Services
  • Medical Records
  • No Surprises Act
  • Price Transparency
  • Financial Assistance
  • Classes & Events
  • Health Library
Health Care Professionals
  • Physician Information
  • Resources
  • Education & Training
  • Departments
  • Credentialing
Newsroom
  • Newsroom Home
  • Inside Life Changing Medicine Blog
  • News Releases
About
  • Why UPMC
  • Facts & Stats
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Community Commitment
  • Financials
  • Supporting UPMC
  • HealthBeat Blog
  • UPMC Apps
  • UPMC Enterprises
  • UPMC Health Plan
  • UPMC International
  • Nondiscrimination Policy
Life changing is...
Follow UPMC
  • Contact Us
  • Website/Email Terms of Use
  • Medical Advice Disclaimer
  • Privacy Information
  • Active Privacy Alerts
  • Sitemap
© 2025 UPMC I Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences Supplemental content provided by Healthwise, Incorporated. To learn more, visit healthwise.org
Find Care
Providers
Video Visit
Portal Login