Skin grafting

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Skin grafting" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines. Please help by editing the article to make improvements to the overall structure. (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Skin grafting
Skin graft performed on the ankle due to third degree burns.
ICD-9-CM	86.6
MedlinePlus	002982
[edit on Wikidata]

Skin grafting, a type of graft surgery, involves the transplantation of skin. The transplanted tissue is called a skin graft.^[1]

Surgeons may use skin grafting to treat:

• extensive wounding or trauma
• burns
• areas of extensive skin loss due to infection such as necrotizing fasciitis or purpura fulminans^[2]
• specific surgeries that may require skin grafts for healing to occur – most commonly removal of skin cancers

Skin grafting often takes place 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: reducing the course of treatment needed (and time in the hospital), and improving 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 involves removing a thin layer of skin from a healthy part of the body (the donor section).
• A full-thickness skin graft 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. In the case of full-thickness skin grafts, the donor section will often heal much more quickly than the injury and causes less pain than a partial-thickness skin graft.