INTRODUCTION Landmines are among the high-energy weapons. Ground landmine explosion results in severe complex soft tissue and bone defects especially on the heel area. Such injuries bring a formidable challenge to both patients and reconstructive surgeons. Here, we present one of the largest series of patients with complex heel defects due to landmine explosion. We discuss our experience as well as the pitfalls of reconstruction. MATERIAL AND METHODS 72 out of 135 patients who had heel defects treated with muscle flaps in Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at GMMA were included in the study.Type of injury, localization of the wounds, tissue defects and timing of the definitive treatment were examined retrospectively. Treatment modalities according to the severity and localization of the wounds were defined. Our preference for reconstruction of large complex defects was free muscle flaps covered by split-thickness skin grafts. Among these, we used free latissimus dorsi muscle flaps in 42 patients, and rectus abdominis muscle flaps in 30 patients. Late functional results of the patients were evaluated by clinical observation, a questionere, three dimensional gait analysis, dynamic podography, and dynamic EMGs. The mean follow-up of these patients was 5.6 years ranging from 1 to 11 years. The values were compared with both the results of the intact foot of the patient and with the ones obtained from 20 healthy volunteer men (control group).Statistical analysis were performed by Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon (non-parametric) tests. RESULTS Chronic and repetitive ulcerations (24patients, 33%) and chronic discharge through the ulcer (20 patients, 27.8%) were found. Most of the patients declared their satisfaction of having their own feet instead of prosthesis. 41 patients are still working without any difficulty for a mean of 3.4 years (range, 1 to 8 years). And, the mean time of standing or walking per day was 2.85 hours for the rest of the patients. Dynamic pressure distribution tests revealed significantly higher pressure and load values on the injured feet of the patients than the control group(p<0.05). 3-D motion analysis showed restricted range of motion(ROM) at the ankle and hip joints of the injured extremity and the difference was significant statistically(p<0.05). CONCLUSION In conclusion, reconstructive options should always be preferred to the amputation procedures in extensive tissue losses of the heel due to mine explosion. Long-term functional results showed that free muscle flaps are promising in reconstruction of such extensive heel defects due to high-energy landmine injuries.