Unstable acute and chronic Charcot’s deformity: staged skeletal and soft-tissue reconstruction

The ultimate goal of soft-tissue coverage is to restore form and function, and this is especially true of plantar foot wounds. Ideally, coverage would be in primary fashion under minimal tension, utilising adjacent, sensate native tissue that is capable of withstanding the shear and tangential forces sustained during ambulation. Soft-tissue wound coverage employs conservative and surgical techniques aimed at providing the most appropriate means of creating rapid, durable and functional closure using the simplest and least invasive modalities. These include delayed primary closure, skin grafting, local, pedicle or free-tissue transfer.