Skin Grafting

Skin grafting is a cosmetic procedure. Here, skin grafts are transplanted from the same patient or taken from animals. This is a surgical procedure, and the patient will be under general anesthesia. It may take more than three days to discharge after skin grafting surgery is over.

In this surgery, a dead, wounded, or burned skin area is covered with new skin tissue. This is a skin grafting method by taking skin from other parts of the body of the same person. The transplanted skin covers the damaged skin area and heals like natural skin after a few months. Here, the cosmetic surgeon will check the patient’s medical history and donor site for removing skin grafts before the surgery.

Skin grafting is one of the tissue grafting methods for treating vitiligo, a skin disorder in which there is a loss of pigment, thereby causing whitish patches on the skin. Melanin, the pigment that is responsible for delivering skin color and tone, reduces, as a result of this disease. Often, there is no specific cause of vitiligo. Skin grafting is a type of grafting surgery where the skin gets transplanted. The tissue that gets transplanted is called a skin graft.

There are mainly two kinds of skin grafts: thin-layered and thick-layered. For stable and non-responsive vitiligo, it is the most successful surgical method. The most useful technique as compared to the other tissue grafting procedures for treating vitiligo.

The skin grafting procedure starts with an IV that is injected into the hand, arm, or wrist. This IV enables doctors to provide medicines and fluids during and after the surgery. Once it’s time for surgery, doctors inject medicine into the IV line.

This medicine is general anesthesia, which makes patients gradually fall asleep and remain asleep throughout the surgery. As a result, patients won’t feel the pain. Once the patient is fully asleep, the surgeon starts the operation process.

At first, the surgeons remove the skin from the donor site. If they perform a split-level thickness graft, they remove the skin from an area of the body such as the hip or the thigh, usually which is hidden by clothing. If they conduct a full-thickness graft, they remove the skin from the abdominal wall or chest wall.

Once the skin is removed from the donor site, the surgeon carefully places it over the transplanted area and secures it with proper surgical dressings, stitches, or staples. The donor area is also covered with a dressing that covers the wound without sticking to it. Within 36 hours, the graft starts developing blood vessels and connects to the skin.

A person with diabetes may take time to heal wounds naturally or through medications. Similarly, an untreated wound may cause infection and might become an extensive wound. If the wound is on the exposed area, it will cause a stigma if it is with a bandage or an open wound. The best way to cure them is through skin grafting. Your extensive wound in the exposed area will no more look disgusting after skin grafting. This is a quick and safe surgical way to stop the infection and cover them with healthy skin tissue.

The skin cancer patient can cover their surgical scar area or wound through skin grafting. This is the best surgical treatment to heal the exposed part of your body with damaged skin. Here, the removal of skin cancer sites is replaced with healthy skin. We at Care Well Medical Centre give free consultations and after-surgery care consultations too. We keep patient data confidential.

Burn injuries can happen accidentally or involuntarily. It will be a social stigma if the burnt skin is on the exposed areas. Yet, skin grafting is the only way to cover damaged skin with your skin tissues. They will start to heal like your natural skin after skin grafting surgery.

However, a burn victim must have a sufficient donor site for the removal of skin grafts. In some 100% burnt skin cases, animal skin tissues are used. In the case of a burn victims, they can first undergo skin grafting on the exposed body areas. This will help with the social stigma.

People with venous leg ulcers take a longer time to heal if their wound is large. This will make it inconvenient to wear trousers or full pants. It will be very painful and uneasy if the wound has infections. The people affected with such skin ulcers are advised to undergo skin grafting.

This will help them to heal soon and recover from venous leg ulcers. This surgical way is the best when your wound is not responding to oral and topical medications.

Dr. Sandeep Bhasin examines the patient history and lifestyle first. After this, he asks the patient to be prepared for skin grafting surgery. This can be with the advice of dos and don’ts before this surgery.

While opting for surgical processes like skin grafting, it is best to have some preparation time before actually proceeding with the surgery. The following steps shall give a proper guideline about taking the necessary preparations before skin grafting for treating vitiligo.

• It is best to schedule the skin graft in advance so that both the patient and the doctor can give time to plan for the process.
• While preparing for the treatment, patients should go for a consultation with their doctors. During this phase, they must inform the doctors about the medicines they are taking, their past medical history, previous surgeries, if done, and other medical-related information. It is so because there are certain medicines that have a tendency to interfere with the ability of blood to form clots. For undergoing skin grafting, often doctors ask their patients to stop consuming such medicines or reduce their dosage.
• Patients must follow all guidelines as given by the doctors. They might be asked to avoid certain food or drinks after midnight, as on the day of surgery. It is because, during the surgery, vomiting and choking are prevented, especially if anesthesia nauseates.

Since general anesthesia is provided during the surgery, therefore patients are more likely to feel drowsy and sleepy. They are kept in the hospitals for a certain period of time and then discharged according to their condition. Once the surgery is over, patients should look forward to post-operation care and maintenance. Post-surgery treatment is very important for vitiligo patients.

While the operation might be successful, however post-surgical care is crucial for a fast and safe recovery. The after-surgery procedures are as follows:

• Soon after the surgery, the hospital staff monitors the condition of the patient and analyses vital signs. If patients suffer from acute pain, they are supplied with relevant medications. In case, it’s chronic, doctors are called.
• In the case of split-level thickness graft, doctors ask patients to stay in the hospital for a few days to ensure that both the graft and the donor site are recovering well.
• If blood vessels don’t begin to form within the graft, shortly after the operation, it sends a signal that the body is rejecting the graft. This calls for emergency attention from the hospital staff and doctors. Patients then need to go for a second graft.
• In the case of full-thickness graft, patients need to stay in hospitals for one or two weeks. There are other requirements such as occupational and physical therapy that help patients in healing from skin grafting.
• Doctors often prescribe important medications that patients need to take orally. These medications help in reducing complications and remove pain from the operated areas. The surgeons will also recommend ways for preventing infection in the grafts and donor sites. Patients should follow these suggestions carefully.
• It is also advisable to control regular activities and duties, soon after discharge. Once the transplanted tissue starts connecting with the skin and the overall skin condition becomes normal, which ideally takes around three to four weeks, patients can slowly return back to normal activities. Before that, they must not move out or injure themselves.

• Bleeding – External bleeding can be found in case of improper stitching. Internal bleeding is also a severe side effect of skin grafting. Here, the patient needs immediate medical care. This is why the patient is not allowed to go back home on the same day the skin grafting surgery is undergone.
• Infection – Infection can happen soon after skin grafting surgery. It is advisable to do this surgery from a modern clinic. They will take care of hygiene for its patient, surgical instrument, and the clinical environment too. If the infection caused does not heal too, the skin grafting surgery will be a waste of money.
• Skin Sensation – Skin grafting surgery may lead to partial or no skin sensation at all. Yet, these are rare cases. It is advisable to do this surgery with an experienced cosmetic surgeon and a trusted clinic. This can reduce side effects.
• Skin Scarring – Skin scarring can happen if the donor and recipient area does not heal properly. Sometimes, the transplant grafts will not support skin growth as the skin tissues reject them on the transplanted area. In this case, the scar marks will be visible due to improper healing and due to infection. These side effects can happen when an inexperienced cosmetic surgeon does this operation.
• Anesthesia-related Risk – General anesthesia is given to a patient while undergoing skin grafting surgery. Anesthesia-related risk is there if a low or high dosage is given to a patient. A low dosage of general anesthesia can increase severe pain in the patient. A high level of anesthesia can risk a patient’s life itself. It is advisable to do this surgery from a reputed clinic with experienced cosmetic surgeons and clinical staff.

Skin grafting surgery-related side effects could be minimized if you do this from a proven clinic. You can find this by reading real-time patient reviews.

At Care Well Medical Centre, we have a modern medical infrastructure. We do have experienced surgeons and clinical staff. We have a 20-bed clinic to support after-skin grafting surgery care. We follow the best practice in cosmetology procedures. Skin grafting is one of our surgical procedures to cure damaged skin areas. We have 100% cure results.

You can see this from our real-time patients before and after skin grafting surgery videos and photos.