Immediate regraft of the remnant skin on the donor site in split-thickness skin grafting

Abstract

Background Skin defects of head and neck need reconstruction using various local flaps. In some cases, surgeons should consider skin graft for large skin defect. It is important to heal skin graft and donor sites. The authors investigated wound healing mechanisms at the donor sites with split-thick-ness skin graft (STSG). In this study, the authors compared two types of immediate regraft including sheets and islands for the donor site after facial skin graft using remnant skin. Methods The author reviewed 10 patients who underwent STSG, from March 2015 to May 2017, for skin defects in the craniofacial area. The donor site was immediately covered with the two types using remnant skin after harvesting skin onto the recipient site. Depending on the size of the remnant skin, we conducted regraft with the single sheet (n= 5) and island types (n= 5). Results On postoperative day 1 and 3 months, the scar formation was evaluated using the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) and Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS). Total POSAS and VSS scores for the island type were lower than in single sheet group after 3 months postoperatively. There was significant difference in specific categories of POSAS and VSS. Conclusion This study showed a reduction in scar formation following immediate regrafting of the remnant skin at the donor site after STSG surgery. Particularly, the island type is useful for clinical application to facilitate healing of donor sites with STSG.

Split-thickness Skin Harvest Site Incision or Inverted Folding-in with Dermostitches and Grafting Back to the Donor Site Using an Electronic Dermatome

“…However, folding in with dermostitches lowers the portion of the remaining donor site. Chipped skin grafting can be called by different names (e.g., minced skin grafting), which suggests that this method is widely used for fast reepithelialization [4][5][6][7] . The merit of chipped skin grafting is that it can be applied to any size of skin defects by changing its density; hence, we used Method Ⅱ for larger defects instead of Method Ⅰ (recruited skin grafting).…”