Introduction

Authors: Christian Kaare Paaskesen Med. Stud, Eirini Tsigka, MD, MSc and Magnus Avnstorp, MD.

Here you will learn how to prepare and perform a cutaneous skin transplant. Both the procedure split-skin transplant and full-thickness skin transplant.

Definition

A cutaneous free tissue transfer, that is intentionally separated from a donor site and transplanted to a recipient site. Also called a skin graft (1).

Full thickness skin transplant: Consist of both the entire epidermis and dermis and sometimes a small amount of subcutaneous tissue.

Split-skin transplant: A skin graft that include the entire epidermis, but only a variable amount of dermis.  

Background

Skin transplants where performed for the first time in India 600 BC, to treat mutilations of ear, nose and lips.  Modern use of skin grafting where performed by surgeon Jaques-Louis Reverdin in 1869, with his use of pinch grafting – a type of split-thickness skin grafting. Three years later, Louis Léopold Ollier described the first split-thickness skin graft. Skin grafting have since then been perfected, and is a widely used technique in plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery and dermatology (1, 2).