The Scalp Is an Advantageous Donor Site for Thin-Skin Grafts: A Report on 945 Harvested Samples

Abstract

The results of this study confirm the rapidity of scalp healing compared with other donor sites. Providing patients with clear, detailed explanations helps minimize the psychological impact of having their heads shaved, and a rigorous technique can contain the two major potential risks: hemorrhage and alopecia. The adult scalp seems to be a donor site to be exploited whenever possible.

Hair follicle units promote re-epithelialization in chronic cutaneous wounds: A clinical case series study

“…Re-establishing epithelial integrity is essential and the primary step to maintaining a regenerative response. The scalp has been identified as an excellent donor site for thin skin grafts (9); however, the scalp dermal graft presents a limited surface area and is <3-4% of the total body surface area (10). Clinical and histological evidence has shown that the rapid healing of the scalp dermal graft is attributed to the differential potential of the cells in the hair follicles, and that re-epithelialization can also occur from grafted hair follicles (11).…”

Ten years later – scalp still a primary donor site in children

“…Because of rapid healing in comparison to other donor sites, there is a possibility of re-harvesting the scalp after a relatively short time (6-14 days) [2,4,11,13,15]. In our material in all children the donor site healed between the 7th and 10th postoperative day.…”

“…Therefore, it may be sequentially re-harvested [11,13], at shorter intervals of time in comparison to other sites, e.g. thighs [14,15]. Literature reports less postoperative pain and low rate of complications which make it a well tolerated procedure [13,16].…”

“…Literature reports bleeding from the scalp as a potential complication [15,19]. Similarly to other authors [1,20,23] we routinely inject adrenaline solution subgaleally and place adrenaline soaks for about ten minutes after graft harvesting which controls the bleeding.…”

Embossed Autodermotransplants: Theoretical Substantiation and Practical Usage

“…In order to do this procedure, split-thickness skin grafts are harvested from donor areas. The donor wound regrows epithelium within two weeks [1][2][3]5]. Sometimes there are complications with transplant skin engraftment to a granulating wound, sometimes areas of donor wounds suppurate [4,6,7,11].…”