New microsurgical applications: implications for the infrastructures of plastic surgery.

As a technical innovation, microsurgery has changed concepts and strategies throughout plastic surgery. The infrastructures of plastic surgery currently are evolving in ways that make the identity and future of the specialty uncertain. Microsurgery also may be a basis for fresh thoughts in these areas of infrastructure. This article touched on some areas where microsurgery could be an important element in organizational development, namely patient population identification, economic strategies, academic organization, and medical education. More thorough exploration of these ideas and identification of others may result in a new foundation for plastic surgery with microsurgery as a key element.