In this week's edition
- ✍️ Letter from P'Fella
We’re taking the PlasticsFella live. - 🤓 The Sunday Quiz
How well do you know otoplasty? - 🖼️ Image of the Week
Trapdoor flap for auricular recon. - 🚑 Technique Tip
Antia-buch flap: Step-by-step. - 📘 Foundations Textbook
Now available on the website! - 🎓 The Fellows' Corner
Experience as an educational fellow: Benedetta Agnelli. - 📖 JPRAS Journal Club
Early oral feeding after head & neck free flaps. - 🔥 Articles of the Week
Creating a cartilage frame, simplifying ear lobe recon, & antia buch original publication: With 1-sentence summaries. - 💕 Feedback
Suggest ideas & give feedback!
A Letter from P'Fella
We’re Taking The Plastics Fella Live
After months of experimenting, tweaking, and — let’s be honest — a bit of trial and error — we think we’ve found something special. The Plastics Fella is about to step into a new chapter… and we want you right there with us.
We’re going live. Not just once in a while — a few times every month — with sessions designed to make you sharper, more confident, and better connected to the specialty you love.
What’s in the Works
- Study Clubs where we tackle tricky, high-yield topics together.
- Roundtables with the kind of surgeons you’d want to scrub in with.
- Journal Clubs (without the fluff) — short, clear, and actually worth your time.
We’ve tested different ways to do it, and this feels like the format that will really bring our community closer.
Help Shape This New Chapter
We’ve got the bones of the plan, but the details? That’s where you come in. You’ve never been shy about telling me what works (and what doesn’t), and that honesty is why this platform works at all.
Right now, we’re deciding between formats — small-group discussions, case-based deep dives, rapid-fire teaching — and we want your vote. We’re also lining up our first sessions, and we can go in a few directions.
We don't want this to be just another webinar; we want to improve on what is already out there. Tell us what would get you to block out time in your calendar — and we’ll build this new face of The Plastics Fella around it.
The truth is, The Plastics Fella has always been more than a platform — it’s a group of people who show up for each other, share what they know, and push the specialty forward. These live sessions are our way of making that connection even more real.
So let’s do it. Let’s make something we all look forward to — like catching up with friends, except the friends are world-class surgeons and the conversations might just change how you operate.
With love,
P’Fella ❤️
The Sunday Quiz
How Well Do You Know Otoplasty?
Join The Weekly Quiz in each edition of thePlasticsPaper. This is the final round of seven rounds!
The top scorer wins one of the first print Foundations at a discount once it's released!
Image of the Week
Trapdoor Flap for Auricular Recon
This week’s image features a step-by-step demonstration of a posterior auricular (trapdoor) flap.
- The flap is marked on the posterior ear surface, then elevated and rotated 180° anteriorly to reconstruct a conchal defect.
- This versatile flap technique includes an extension into the external auditory meatus, allowing for resurfacing with excellent tissue match.
A useful flap for auricular defects involving both skin and conchal cartilage with aesthetic and functional relevance.

Technique Tip
Antia-Buch Flap: Step-by-Step
This week’s technique tip breaks down the Antia-Buch flap, a reliable option for helical rim reconstruction.
In this video, you'll see:
- How to design and elevate the chondrocutaneous advancement flap.
- Key steps in mobilising the helical root for tension-free closure.
- How to optimise cosmetic contour and preserve vascularity.
Foundations Textbook
Now Available on the Website!
After months of collaboration, editing, and student input, Foundations: The Textbook is now officially available as an eBook.
Watch the short intro below for a glimpse — built by students, fellows, and surgeons from around the world.
The printed version has also started shipping, watch out for any deliveries!
the Fellows' Corner
Experience as an Educational Fellow: Benedetta Agnelli
While working on the Foundations Textbook, Benedetta Agnelli played a key role as one of our Educational Fellows — helping turn complex surgical topics into engaging, structured content.
Here’s what she had to say about her time as an educational fellow at the P'fella👇

JPRAS Journal Club
Early Oral Feeding After Head & Neck Free Flaps
✅ Lower fistula rates (3.7% vs 11.4%)
✅ Fewer pneumonias (6.3% vs 12.4%)
✅ Shorter hospital stays (9.8 vs 13.1 days)
🚫 No increased flap failure or dehiscence
Read the full breakdown below.
Articles of the Week
3 Interesting Articles with One-Sentence Summaries
Satoru Nagata’s video demonstrates how three-dimensional frameworks sculpted from autologous costal cartilage form the structural basis for auricular reconstruction in microtia.
Recreating the earlobe’s smooth, rounded contour — long considered a challenging aesthetic detail — can be achieved with a simplified surgical technique that restores natural appearance more reliably.
The Antia-Buch chondrocutaneous advancement flap, first described in 1967, remains a foundational and effective technique for reconstructing marginal ear defects with preserved contour.