Every year, thousands of wounds are reconstructed by Canadian plastic surgeons, including those related to cancer operations, accidents, traumas, and severed limbs.

One of the most common types of reconstructed wounds are related to skin cancer excision.

Plastic surgeons also help give mouth cancer survivors a chance to have normal appearance, speech and swallowing by reconstructing any parts (e.g., jaw, tongue, etc.) that were removed to cut out the cancer.

After accidents and other trauma, plastic surgeons will transfer muscle, skin and bone from one part of the body to rebuild another. This type of reconstruction will often allow patients to keep a limb that would have otherwise been amputated.

Plastic surgeons also reattach body parts that have been accidentally severed. Some parts that cannot be replanted can sometimes be reconstructed. For example, if a person has lost his thumb, the first or second toe can be transferred to the hand to provide excellent hand function as a “thoe.”

Photos below: hand missing a thumb; great toe will go on hand to replace thumb.