What Is a Skin Graft?

A skin graft is the surgical process in which a patch of skin is removed from one area of the body and reattached to another area. This process covers scars, burns or bad cuts.

Donor Site

• The donor site is an area of the body hidden from view by clothing, such as the inner thighs or the buttocks. The skin tone of the donor site should closely match the tone of the recipient area.

Types

• Surgeons use two different types of processes in skin grafting procedures, distinguishable by the thickness of the skin.

Split Skin Graft

• A split-skin graft consists of shaving off the top layers of the skin with a dermatome skin-grafting knife. The epidermis and the dermis are the skin layers removed in this type of skin graft.

Full-Thickness Skin Graft

• A scalpel or a Wolfe graft tool performs the cutting process during a full-thickness skin graft, which requires removal of all layers of the skin.

Warning

• A skin graft does not always turn out successfully. Some skin-graft patients will experience a skin graft that does not stay in place and falls off because of infection or bleeding.