Abstract
Background: In old patients or in patients with conditions unfavorable for wound healing, complete reepithelialization of the donor site of the split-thickness skin graft takes considerably more time, and the donor site develops chronic ulcers sometimes. Thus, reduction of the time for reepithelialization of the donor site is important. To achieve this, we developed two new methods to reduce the raw surface area of the donor site.
Methods: We applied the two methods in 7 patients who needed split-thickness skin grafting. Four patients were treated with recruited skin grafting; and three, with chipped skin grafting. The split-thickness skin graft, 350 \u000000b5m in thickness, was harvested using an electronic dermatome. The donor sites were sutured either by excision or by folding with dermostitches.
Results: The reepithelialization was completed from 7 to 15 days after the operation. None of the patients showed persistent erosion or ulcers.
Conclusions: By reducing the donor area using the suturing technique, the wounds tended to heal faster. Reepithelialization at the donor site was completed faster by recruited and chipped skin grafting. We named this method SHIGE (split-thickness skin harvest site incision or inverted folding-in with dermostitches and grafting back to the donor site using an electronic dermatome).
