Water and Electrolyte Changes in Autogenous Skin Grafts

Evaluating Blood Flow in Full‐Thickness Skin Grafts Utilizing the Laser Doppler

“…Skin grafts have been shown to increase in weight up to 37% on the first postoperative day. This is mostly due to the diffusion of water and sodium 2 . No blood flow is demonstrated on LDV or in experimental studies during this time.…”

“…Plasmatic imbibition 2,3,15 is the term that connotes passive adsorption of sustaining fluid into the graft from the host bed during the first few days. The graft's viability is dependent on this early event maintaining the tissue until the vascular connections are made.…”

“…This linkage has been characterized in three sequential stages: plasmatic imbibition, 2–4 inosculation, 5–12 and neovascularization 13,14 . Some authors 14 have referred to inosculation as primary vascularization and neovascularization as secondary vascularization.…”