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1. What are creep and stress relaxation? (PRS 1993; 92:248)
2. What happens to each layer of the skin (epidermis, dermis) and muscle during expansion? Is expansion a dividend or a loan? (PRS 1986; 78:63)
3. Does intraoperative expansion work? (PRS 1990; 86:722)
4. In tissue expansion, what are the most common complications? In what area of the body are these complications highest?
5. What are the capsular flaps? How are they used? Do they work? (PRS 1993; 91:1073)
6. Does fast filling work? Are external ports a good idea?
7. How have tissue expanders been used in cleft lip and palate? (PRS 1993; p.441)
8. How does intraluminal pressure change during injection and overexpansion? Can you overfill an implant?
9. Are tissue expansion and delay analogous?
10. Describe Mann and Baker’s technique of expanding face lift flaps. What is the purpose?
11. You expand a flap and then use it to cover a defect. Should you remove the capsule from the flap?
12. You are doing your first breast reconstruction with an expander as an attending. How do you order one? How long does it take to arrive? What size do you pick? When do you start expansion? (Annals 1992; 28:390, PRS 1993; 93:255)
13. Why would you pick a croissant vs. an oval vs. an oblong expander? Does differential expansion work? (Annals 1992; 28:311)
14. Why use an expander? Why not stretch the skin by other methods? Discuss the “sure-closure” system. (PRS 1994; 93:337, PRS 1997; 100:926)
15. How do children do with tissue expansion? (PRS 1996; 98:1242)