Lower leg
Postoperative problems affecting the lower leg include
- A visible scar. This is along the length of the outer surface of the lower leg usually with a rectangular area of altered appearance where a skin graft replaces skin taken when a fibula osseocutaneous flap has been taken to reconstruct the jaws. The inner side of the lower leg may have a linear scar if a medial sural artery perforator flap has been harvested.
- Lifting up of the great toe can be limited when a fibula flap has been used.
- Limping to a greater or lesser degree can occur.
- Altered or absent sensation in the area of surgery may be noticeable although this often isn’t very troublesome.
- Complete absence of sensation or sometimes unpleasant altered sensation on the outer surface of the lowest part of the leg and the side of the foot, if a sural nerve graft has been taken to replace missing or damaged nerve elsewhere.
- Very rarely loss of the foot has been reported when a fibula flap has been used and the remaining blood vessels to the lower leg and foot (the anterior (front) and posterior (back) tibial arteries) have been diseased or absent. This is why pre-operative assessment of the leg usually with MRA (magnetic resonance angiography), an application of MRI for the characterisation of blood vessels) or some other combination of tests is carried out.