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Plastic Surgery and Burns

We care for patients with burn injuries and those who need surgery to repair and reconstruct missing or damaged tissue and skin.

Our department is the regional specialist burns unit for adults and children, and is part of the London and South East Burns Network.

We provide emergency care at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and planned surgery at Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville.

We run outpatient clinics across our Trust hospitals, as well as at Newport Pagnell and Leighton Buzzard.

Our Plastic Surgery Services

We offer various treatments depending on your condition.

Find out more below.

 

We treat all types of benign skin lesions that need plastic surgical intervention. We also see patients with skin cancers with or without lymph node involvement, and patients with specific types of melanoma.

The head and neck team at Churchill Hospital in Oxford treat intraoral tumours. Patients with soft tissue sarcomas have treatment at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

 

We treat all types of breast conditions ranging from congenital (present from birth) to those that are secondary to breast cancer.

Our team provides reconstructive surgical options from immediate to delayed procedures in conjunction with our breast cancer surgeons, including:

  • implant based techniques
  • autologous tissue based reconstructions, for example, DIEP flap reconstruction – we use your own tissue to create a mound instead of an implant.

We are planning to offer areola tattooing in the near future.

Our free flap breast reconstruction service has a 98% success rate.

 

We treat all types of adult and paediatric upper limb problems including nerve compression syndromes (for example carpal tunnel syndrome), Dupuytren’s contracture and arthritis.

We also provide specialist care and plastic surgery for patients with rheumatoid disease and other forms of arthritis. Our care rheumatology team works with us to jointly manage your care.

Patients with spinal injuries, including tendon and nerves transfers, may need complex upper limb reconstructive surgery. We work closely with our team in the National Spinal Injuries Centre.

We also treat all types of congenital hand deformities in children, from the removal of extra digits to complex cases, such as syndactyly (joined fingers) and underdeveloped or duplicate thumb deformities.

 

This condition affects 1 in 300 boys. It’s a deformity of the urogenital system (penis) and can include:

  • the hole that urine passes through not being in the correct place
  • absent foreskin at the front of the penis, with excess at the back
  • a bent penis when stiff (chordee).

Treatment may involve a one or two stage reconstruction.

Our Burns Services

We offer various treatments depending on your injury.

Find out more below.

 

We treat all types of acute burn injuries in adults and children. As a designated burns unit, we can treat patients with injuries below the accepted unit level of 40% total body surface area in adults and 20% in children.

Our highly skilled multi-disciplinary team consists of specialist consultant surgeons, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, a dietician and a social worker.

As part of our diagnostic process, we use laser Doppler imaging that accurately assesses the burn depth from 2 to 5 days after your injury. This helps us to decide on the best treatment for your burn. 

 

We help patients who have had burn injuries in the past. You may have recovered with problematic scars that lead to functional, psychological and cosmetic problems.

We offer all aspects of scar therapy and psychological help. We also provide surgical techniques including:

  • release or resurfacing of burn scars
  • reconstruction with skin grafting
  • replacement of layers with artificial skin products
  • reconstruction of scars with local or free flaps and tissue expanded skin.

Where possible we use non-burned tissue from your own body into the burn scars to break contractures (shortening of a muscle or joint), restore mobility and function.

We also run monthly complex scar clinics where we’ll assess you and provide treatment patients on an individual basis.

We are one of only 2 units in the country that offers fractional carbon dioxide laser treatment for complex scars (thanks to ScanAppeal and charitable burns funds).

 

We offer joint care with the National Spinal Injuries Centre to patients with pressure ulcers and complex wounds.

We use techniques that include debridement, negative pressure therapy and reconstruction with a wide variety of flaps that imports well vascularised tissue from the patient’s body to help the healing process.

We also offer reconstruction to patients with complex perineal wounds, such as patients treated for colorectal or urogenital cancer that need reconstruction with muscle or skin flaps to restore function and healing.

 

We treat plastic surgical trauma including hands (bones and soft tissue) and soft tissue trauma in adults and children.

Major trauma and open lower limb fracture emergency treatments take place at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

We use microsurgical facilities to replant amputated digits and devascularized hand injuries.

We also treat soft tissue problems and infections that need specialist plastic surgery and acute surgical intervention. This includes caring for patients with complex skin loss such as necrotising fasciitis.

We run regular hand follow up clinics. We see patients after their operation for wound check and replacement of cast or splints. You can start early rehabilitation under the care of our specialist physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

Plastic Surgery and Burns patient information

Contact 

Plastic Surgery and Burns  
Appointment enquiries
Plastic Surgery and Burns  

01296 315000

Appointment enquiries

Call the number on your appointment letter.