Skin Grafting Health Article

Normal results

A skin graft should provide significant improvement in the quality of the wound site, and may prevent the serious complications associated with burns or non-healing wounds. Normally, new blood vessels begin growing from the donor area into the transplanted skin within 36 hours. Occasionally, skin grafts are unsuccessful or don't heal well. In these cases, repeat grafting is necessary. Even though the skin graft must be protected from trauma or significant stretching for two to three weeks following split-thickness skin grafting, recovery from surgery is usually rapid. A dressing may be necessary for one to two weeks, depending on the location of the graft. Any exercise or activity that stretches the graft or puts it at risk for trauma should be avoided for three to four weeks. A one to two-week hospital stay is most often required in cases of full-thickness grafts, as the recovery period is longer.

Morbidity and mortality rates

According to the American Burn Association, there are more than 1 million burn injuries in the United States each year that require medical attention. Approximately one-half of these require hospitalization, and roughly 25,000 of those burn patients are admitted to a specialized burn unit. About 4,500 people die from burns each year in the United States.

In the United States, someone dies in a fire nearly every two hours, on average, and another person is injured every 23 minutes. Approximately half the deaths occur in homes without smoke alarms. In addition to deaths resulting directly from burns, as many as 10,000 Americans die every year of burn-related infections, pneumonia being the most common infectious complication among hospitalized burn patients.

The average size of a burn injury in a patient admitted to a burn center is approximately 14% of the total body surface area. Smaller burns covering 10% of the total body area or less account for 54% of burn center admissions, while larger burns covering 60% or more account for 4% of admissions. About 6% of patients admitted to burn centers do not survive, mostly as a result of having suffered severe inhalation injuries in a fire.

Treatment for severe burns has improved dramatically in the past 20 years. Today, patients can survive with burns covering up to about 90% of the body, although they often face permanent physical impairment.