D’Assumpcao Abdominoplasty Flap Marker | Abdominal Flap Marking Forceps

What a D’Assumpcao abdominoplasty flap marker is

This is the abdominal member of the D’Assumpcao family, and it is the only marker we make that earns its place on two quite different operations.

The first is the obvious one. In an abdominoplasty the surgeon has to decide how much abdominal skin and fat comes away, and this instrument answers that by measurement rather than by eye. It is an instrument that finds the measurement, because the overlap the jaws take up is itself the answer to how much skin is spare. The tines take hold of the mobilised flap, the ratchet holds them, and the overlap the jaws have closed on is the tissue that is spare.

The second is less obvious and more interesting. TRAM and DIEP flap breast reconstruction raises an abdominal flap and moves it to the chest, and the same question has to be answered about the same tissue before it goes anywhere. A marker that holds a thick abdominal flap under tension is as useful there as it is in a tummy tuck.

The name is spelled both ways in the trade, with the apostrophe and without, so a Dassumpcao abdominoplasty flap marker is this instrument too. Some catalogues also shorten it to an abdominal flap marker, which is the same pattern under a plainer name.

Two things it is bought for by name. Abdominoplasty marking, which is the whole of what it does on a tummy tuck, and abdominoplasty incision marking specifically, which is the line it leaves rather than the measurement it takes. It is also the tram flap marker on a reconstruction tray, for the reason above.

Key design features

A 3 by 3 tine array

Nine points of contact in a square, rather than a single row. On a thick flap of fat and skin the load has to be spread or the tissue either slips out or gets marked harder than anybody wanted, and nine points across two dimensions holds better than nine in a line.

The ratchet, and what it buys

Once the ratchet is engaged the instrument holds the flap on its own. That frees both hands, and on an abdominal line the hand that matters is the one that is now free to mark. The other abdominal patterns we make do not lock, and this is the one to order if that matters to you.

It stretches as well as grips

The grip is only half the job. The tines put the flap under the tension it will be closed at, which on an abdomen is a real load because the flap’s own weight is part of the answer. Tissue measured slack and closed under tension gives two different figures.

Two operations, one instrument

The TRAM and DIEP flap application is the thing that separates this from the rest of the abdominal group. A unit doing breast reconstruction from an abdominal donor site is holding and marking the same tissue, and buying one instrument for both lists is a straightforward saving.

Which abdominal marker to order

Three instruments for an abdominal flap. This is the one that locks.

Where it is used

The abdomen, as a site to be reduced and as a site to be harvested from.

What it marks, and what it must not do

A ratchet on a flap that is going to be moved somewhere else and used is the reason row two is on this table and matters more here than anywhere.

How it compares with the rest of the family

Six clamping markers in this category. Three are for a torso and this is the only one of those that locks.

Materials and finish

Every D’Assumpcao abdominoplasty flap marker we make is cut from high quality medical grade stainless steel. The steel itself is made to a German specification. We do not publish a grade number. The number on a certificate tells a surgeon nothing about whether a nine point tine array still grips evenly after two hundred autoclave cycles, and the answer to that is in the making rather than in the alloy.

The ratchet is cut, not stamped. A stamped ratchet rounds off within a couple of years and then slips off its first notch under load, and the load here is a heavy flap.

A nine point array has to be finished as a set rather than point by point, because the whole value of it is that all nine arrive on the tissue together. Eight points and one that is slightly short is an eight point instrument with a hole in the middle of its grip.

Caring for it

Release the ratchet before the autoclave and store the instrument open. A ratchet left engaged spends the whole cycle under load, and it is the one part of this instrument that will not take that twice a week for five years.

Clean between the tines with a soft brush. A 3 by 3 array has nine gaps and tissue dries in all of them, and an array with debris between the points stops gripping evenly, which is the only thing it is for. Autoclave with the rest of the tray and check the ratchet catches on its first notch when it comes back.

Ordering and wholesale

The D’Assumpcao abdominoplasty flap marker is made in our own workshop and sold direct, which is why the price sits where it does against the catalogue houses. Order one for a single tray, or in quantity for a hospital list or a distributor line. We do OEM work under your own brand and your own item numbers. Send us a sample and we will hold a run to your pattern rather than ours. Stock items ship from our own workshop. Backorder items take 10 to 12 working days to make. Every instrument carries a three year replacement warranty against manufacturing defects. Production is controlled under an ISO 13485 quality management system.

Frequently asked questions

What is a D’Assumpcao abdominoplasty flap marker used for?

Marking the line of excision on a mobilised abdominal flap during an abdominoplasty, and on the donor flap in TRAM and DIEP flap breast reconstruction. The tines grip and stretch the flap, the ratchet holds it, and the mark goes on at closing tension.

Why does an abdominoplasty flap marker need a ratchet?

So the instrument holds a heavy flap without a hand on it, which leaves both hands free for a long mark. Of the three abdominal markers we make this is the only one that locks; the Lockwood and the large Pitanguy are both held by hand.

Can this flap marker be used for TRAM and DIEP flap reconstruction?

Yes, and that is one of the main reasons to own it. Both operations raise an abdominal flap, and the same question about how much tissue is available has to be answered on the same kind of tissue before anything is moved.

What is the tine pattern on the abdominoplasty flap marker?

A 3 by 3 array, so nine points of contact in a square. The point of two dimensions rather than a single row is that a thick flap of fat and skin is held rather than pinched, and the load is spread across the whole grip.

What are the dimensions of this flap marker?

Our own two product records disagree with each other on both the overall length and the tip width, so rather than publish a figure we cannot stand behind, we are not publishing one. The instrument is one of the long abdominal patterns. It is being measured and this page will carry the figures once it has been.

Related products and categories

Without a ratchet, the Lockwood abdominal demarcator 32cm adds angled shafts and a wider blade for a deep or thick flap, and the Pitanguy large flap demarcator 311mm is the long straight inked pattern. For a facial flap with the same ratcheted hold, the Kurtay D’Assumpcao facelift marker is the short instrument.

The rest of the family sits under marking and measuring instruments, and the wider set for this operation is under abdominoplasty instruments.