it really shouldn't matter if you have a few tris in there, if you're doing a game character then it doesn't matter because that will be all triangles anyhow, if you're doing just a hi res character and you plan on animating it, it shouldn't matter too much, what I would do, is start deleting an edge or two in the problem area and see if you can make a quad out of it. Its a trial and error process and it is tedious at times and can be lengthy, but thats what you're going to have to do to fix the model...take the time to do it, and it will pay off