Radial forearm flap tongue reconstruction

Good evening Scoran, well done in getting this far after your reconstruction surgery, i had the same doner site as you when i had floor of the mouth cancer. I would not worry to much about how it looks at the moment as i have seen different shapes and sizes and different speeds of recovery, I must admit it took ages to heal but they finally found a dressing that helped and like yours mine was tight. The main thing is for it to settle down and heal up, I think a lot of the time the body will concentrate on the most important areas of surgery (your tongue) so the forearm will lag behind somewhat. Mine has healed up very well and blends in with the rest of the area looking with the feeling of tightness gone. I would imagine it's just the skin pulling and stretching as it reaches its final stages of healing, Sometimes it also varies to which area of the body's skin/tissue they use to repair the forearm. Not sure if I should say this, but I'm quite proud of the scar and how it looks, I'm sure yours will be the same very shortly once the radio/chemo course has finished, wishing you all the best for your last course of treatment, take care.

                                                                             Chris x

Hi Scoran

Congratulations on nearly finishing your chemo and radiotherapy.

I too had a donor graft from my inner forearm but mine was to cover the roof of my mouth. Sounds as though yours is behaving just like mine did.

It is now one year since I had this done. Initially just like yours mine was very obvious. It looked like a dog had taken a bite out of me as it was quite sunken too. Mine also felt very tight and it still does after a year but less so. It slightly restricts my wrist movement but nothing major. It still feels like it is stretching my skin. It has started to fade and is not red like it was. I have got used to it now so am not constantly aware of it. It is to be seen whether like Chris the feeling of tightness disappears completely.

Lyn

Another forearm flap experience here.

I remember being shocked at the site when I first saw it. It looked like a bite taken out and a scar up to the crook of the elbow.

Roughly two years on it’s a silver scar and not particularly noticeable. There’s some slight remaining numbness and tingling around the area, but again barely noticeable.

It just tends to take more time for healing than we expect, but over months and even years improvement continues to happen. I have no sense of tightness in the area now.

Hi Scoran. Are you moisturising and massaging the scar? I think that helps loosen things. 

Same procedure here. Bio oil helps but 6 months after surgery it is still tight - physio helping and seems to be a time thing as others have stated.