The practice of reconstructive surgery is both a science and an art. In most cases, the need for plastic reconstruction is necessitated by traumatic injury (dog bite wounds) or from cancer removal (feline fibrosarcoma). It takes a skillful eye to be able to remove and/or reconstruct an area of damaged tissue and allow for a good quality of life for the patient. The objective in reconstructive surgery is to make the patient appear as “normal” as possible but to also fix the injury.

Each patient’s needs are different and each case is unique in surgical approach. For cancer patients, the objective is to remove the tumor(s) with as large of a margin as possible to deter spread to surrounding tissue. This is particularly important in treating fibrosarcomas and mast cell tumors that have the ability to easily spread to unaffected areas if not fully resected. Trauma patients may undergo a series of bandages to prep the area prior to surgery. This bandaging allows for healthy tissue to form and gives the surgeon an idea of what tissue is viable and what needs to be removed and reconconstructed