skin grafting

Whenever there is a defect in the skin or a non-vital section of skin, such as from burns or other damage resulting in scars, it needs to be replaced with a partial or full thickness skin grafting. Skin generally covers the entire body and protects underlying tissues from damage and infection. It also provides thermoregulation via skin temperature changes and radiation of heat through the skin. Restoring a normal skin border is the purpose behind skin grafting.

Skin grafting was performed two millennia ago in India but wasn’t popular in western medicine until almost two hundred years ago. Grafting was found to speed healing and reduce fluid loss from major wounds and burns. Grafting makes wounds look better and reduces scar contraction. Wounds that extend to bone must be grafted because bone does not cover itself with tissue or skin.

Among children, 60 percent of amputations are congenital in nature and 40 percent are acquired due to an injury. Most of these patients require some kind of prosthetic device more so than children who’ve sustained congenital amputations. These acquired amputee children attend specialized child amputee clinics. Acquired amputees are due to trauma most of the time but in a few cases, the limb loss was secondary to disease. The worst offenders are power tools and heavy machinery, followed by automobile accidents, explosions, gunshot wounds and railroad accidents. In the 1-4 age groups, the most common causes of amputation are lawnmowers and household accidents.

Of diseases causing amputation, the most common cause is malignancies, vascular malformations and neurogenic disorders. More than 90 percent of the time, acquired amputations involve just one extremity. In over 60 percent of the cases, the lower limb is the limb affected. Males have more amputations than females at a ratio of 3:2. This is because males tend to engage in activities that are more hazardous than females.

Articles Tagged with skin grafting

Full Thickness Skin Grafting

Amputations in Kids