Skin transplantation

Skin grafting
Intervention
Skin graft on lower leg trauma injury, 5 days after surgery healing aided by use of a vacuum dressing
ICD-9-CM	86.6
MedlinePlus	002982
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Skin grafting is a type of graft surgery involving the transplantation of skin. The transplanted tissue is called a skin graft.

Skin grafting is often used to treat:

Skin grafts are often employed after serious injuries when some of the body's skin is damaged. Surgical removal (excision or debridement) of the damaged skin is followed by skin grafting. The grafting serves two purposes: reduce the course of treatment needed (and time in the hospital), and improve the function and appearance of the area of the body which receives the skin graft.

There are two types of skin grafts, the more common type is where a thin layer is removed from a healthy part of the body (the donor section) like peeling a potato, or a full thickness skin graft, which involves pinching and cutting skin away from the donor section. A full thickness skin graft is more risky, in terms of the body accepting the skin, yet it leaves only a scar line on the donor section, similar to a Cesarean section scar. For full thickness skin grafts, the donor section will often heal much more quickly than the injury and is less painful than a partial thickness skin graft.

Two layers of skin created from animal sources has been found to be useful in venous leg ulcers.

Skin grafts can be:

A split-thickness skin graft (STSG) is a skin graft including the epidermis and part of the dermis. Its thickness depends on the donor site and the needs of the patient. It can be processed through a skin mesher which makes apertures onto the graft, allowing it to expand up to nine times its size. Split-thickness grafts are frequently used as they can cover large areas and the rate of autorejection is low. The same site can be harvested again after six weeks. The donor site heals by re-epithelialisation from the dermis and surrounding skin and requires dressings.

A full-thickness skin graft consists of the epidermis and the entire thickness of the dermis. The donor site is either sutured closed directly or covered by a split-thickness skin graft.

A composite graft is a small graft containing skin and underlying cartilage or other tissue. Donor sites include, for example, ear skin and cartilage to reconstruct nasal alar rim defects.