Negative pressure wound dressing of the radial forearm donor site

Donor site complications of the radial forearm are a significant cause of post-operative morbidity. 15 patients had radial forearm free tissue donor sites treated with split skin grafts and a negative pressure dressing. All grafts showed 100% take at 5 days. The advantages of this technique include rapid healing at an unfavourable graft recipient site, increased graft take and decreased donor site complications. This method is ideally suited for the management of large defects. The dressing can be quickly and easily applied and there have been no significant complications.