Tissues defect of the sole of the foot requires a high quality of repair, because the sole bears the body weight most. Once there is loss of soft tissues and skin from the sole, the os calsis and the plantar fascia will be exposed. The use of vascularized tissue flaps to cover the beare area of the sole has been generally recognized. From May, 1985 through May, 1994, 26 cases of extensive tissue defects of the soles were treated. During the primary debridement, the wounds were repaired primarily by using retrograde island skin flap from the medial side of the leg with the posterior tibial artery. From the follwup, the results weresatisfactory. The advantages were: the skin flap had rich blood supply, large skin flap was avallable, the thickness of the flap was appropriate, and the elasticity or the weight bearing was good. Besides, the location of the artery was constant, and the operative technique was easy to handle and could be done in onestage with high survival rate of the skin flap.
