ELEGANT AESTHETIC RECONSTRUCTION, as with all successful art, demands critical seeing, processing and analysis of visual data. To accomplish an “aesthetic reconstruction” of a facial defect suggests both a functional soft tissue replacement and some correspondence to optimal appearance. At a minimum this maneuver requires an intimate knowledge of anatomy, experience in the surgical craft, and an understanding of aesthetics. Aesthetics has been defined as “how something looks, especially when considered in terms of how pleasing it is, or a particular idea of what is beautiful.”1 The theoretical discussion of aesthetics and facial surgery has been approached elsewhere and represents an entire philosophic discipline.2 Similarly, dermatologic surgical literature is replete with information regarding softtissue reconstruction techniques. This article suggests an initial strategy to organize some of the vast visual data seen in patients undergoing skin surgery.

ELEGANT AESTHETIC RECONSTRUCTION, as with all successful art, demands critical seeing, processing and analysis of visual data.