Unusual donor sites for harvesting of island skin grafts

This study reports on the use of two unusual donor sites for the harvesting of island skin grafts used in the coverage of large skin wounds. Island grafts were taken not only from intact skin but also from itself and from newly generated epithelium, so that it could be transferred to another defect area. The study included 23 patients with skin wounds of different sizes due to burn injury (17 patients) and traffic accidents (6 cases). After granulation tissue had taken on the wound surface, island grafts (area 1 to 2 cm2) were harvested from three donor sites and placed over the wound 1 to 3 cm apart. The granulation tissue around the grafts was covered by the epithelium spreading from the island grafts, with the wounds closing in two to seven weeks, depending on their size. Donor areas healed spontaneously, with epithelialization in one to three weeks. Utilizing the new donor sites as a source of epithelium, island grafts may become a new alternative to other skin graft techniques in patients who have limited donor sites or who do not want any more donor site scars.