The Superficial Temporal Artery Island Flap: An Option for Moustache Reconstruction

Vascular anomalies are a group of lesions originating from blood vessels and lymphatics with varying histology and clinical behavior. They form the most common congenital anomalies in infants and children. The reconstructive method for the facial region defects varies depending on the size and position of the defect, as well as the patient's age, health status and aesthetic concerns. In this case, the authors present a male patient who underwent a wide resection of his mustache area because of vascular malformation and reconstructed with hair-bearing temporal artery island flap. A 42-year-old male patient presented with swelling and ongoing color change in the cheek and lip area on the left side of the face. His examination revealed a vascular malformation extending from the preauricular region to the left side of the nose, to the upper lip and to the medial canthal region. Superficial temporal artery island flap was designed to reconstruct the upper lip area while full thickness skin graft planned for the defect on nose and cheek. STA island flap has been applied in many areas such as forehead, eyebrow, eyelid, cheek, and nose reconstruction due to its advantages such as providing good color and texture harmony, reliable and constant pedicle, simple and fast dissection, wide rotation arc and low donor area morbidity. Superficial temporal artery island flap should be considered as a favorable reconstruction option in upper and middle face region for moderate and small sized defects