Practical Facial Reconstruction

Reviews / Votes

Dermatologist Andrew J. Kaufman's textbook entitled Practical Facial Reconstruction: Theory and Practice joins a number of new releases dedicated to soft-tissue facial reconstruction, essentially post-Mohs facial reconstruction. This includes Pacella and Codner's Aesthetic Facial Reconstruction after Mohs Surgery.

Dr. Kaufman's book is inclusive but is not meant to be a primer on basic facial repair such as Baker's textbook, but is designed to complement "other more comprehensive textbooks" and is designed to be a readable and practical approach to enhancing one's expertise at facial reconstruction. In addition, the author's stated goal was to simplify or demystify some useful reconstructive techniques. Dr. Kaufman's book does this handily. The 272 -page volume is richly illustrated with both preoperative and postoperative photographs and very professional color illustrations that expertly explain his reconstructive concepts. The book itself is not a simple show -and -tell of "good results," but rather provides a very solid theoretical framework for identifying the defects and developing a reconstructive plan that can be applied to a number of different defects, not just what is pictured in the book. The book covers both theory and practice of facial reconstruction and specifically covers cheek, forehead, nose, and lip and the often uncovered ear and eyelid reconstruction.

The overlying theme of this entire textbook is the quality of the pictured results. The patient examples are uniformly superb, with a clear reflection of the author's expertise and mastery at softtissue facial reconstruction.

Detractors from this text are few and are essentially explained in the Foreword. The book will not serve for the majority of nasal reconstructions that plastic surgeons will perform, as it does not cover more complex issues such as large lining defects or heminasal defects. The eyelid section also will not be adequate for more than fairly simple eyelid defects. The book, however, more than satisfies its intent, which is to add to existing textbooks. Therefore, this textbook in addition to Menick's recently released comprehensive textbook on nasal reconstruction will be more than adequate for a practicing plastic surgeon, and the above books along with Baker's textbook will provide the theoretical constructs that a resident needs to develop his or her skills. This book will make a fine addition to the libraries of plastic surgeons interested in softtissue facial reconstruction.

James F. Thornton, M.D.
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (October 2017)
This is a lovely book written by Andrew Kaufman, a leader in facial reconstruction. Reconstruction is a somewhat subjective endeavor, and the goal of this text is to guide us through the thought process of designing facial repairs. After all, there is no magical answer for all repairs because each defect is unique and each patient comes with multiple confounding variables. This book is above all else a practical guide to closing defects and stands as a complement to many other books on this subject.

None of this would be successful without excellent photographs and drawings, and Dr. Kaufman's are superb. They beautifully illustrate the numerous
closures presented here.There are ?ne illustrations on most of the nearly 300 pages of this text.

This is a book that can be read from beginning to end or used as a ready reference for speci?c situations. As such,it belongs in the library o anyone who practices facial reconstruction, from beginner to expert.


William P. Coleman III, MD
Editor-in-Chief, Dermatologic Surgery
Metairie, Louisiana