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Updated: Jul 27, 2026
Murine Full-thickness Skin Transplantation
Published on: January 2, 2017
Ten years later-scalp still a primary donor site in children
D Wyrzykowski1, B Chrzanowska1, P Czauderna1
1Department of Surgery and Urology for Children and Adolescents, Medical University of Gdansk, Poland.
Insights
The scalp is a reliable donor site for pediatric skin grafts, with most donor sites healing within 10 days. Post-operative scar management using contact therapy yielded good to very good results in over 80% of cases.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Plastic Surgery
- Dermatology
- Wound Healing
Background:
- Choosing an optimal donor site for split-thickness skin grafts in pediatric patients is crucial for minimizing complications and achieving favorable aesthetic outcomes.
- The scalp has been identified as a primary donor site at our institution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the reliability and outcomes of using the scalp as a donor site for split-thickness skin grafts in pediatric patients.
- To assess the effectiveness of contact therapy in managing scars at the recipient site.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective review of 123 pediatric patients (4 months to 15 years) who underwent skin grafting from the scalp between 1998 and 2008.
- Donor site complications were recorded, and recipient site scar quality was evaluated using the Vancouver Scar Assessment Scale after a minimum 10-year follow-up for 41 patients.
Main Results:
- All donor sites healed by the 10th post-operative day, with minimal complications including microalopecia and hypertrophic scarring.
- Recipient site scar quality was rated as very good or good in 80.9% of evaluated scars, satisfactory in 16.2%, and unsatisfactory in 2.9%.
Conclusions:
- The scalp is a dependable donor site for pediatric skin grafting, offering good healing and acceptable aesthetic results.
- Contact therapy is an effective method for the prevention and treatment of scars at the recipient site.
Unlabelled:
Choice of the donor site for a split thickness skin graft depends on skin availability, possible complications and anticipated esthetic results. We selected the scalp to be the primary donor site at our institution. During a period of ten years (1998-2008), a group of 123 pediatric patients aged 4 months to 15 years (65% were below the age of 2; mean age 2.98 years) underwent skin grafting from this particular site. In 2 cases the same area was re-harvested. All donor sites healed by the 10th post-operative day. Donor site complications included: 2 microalopecia regions, 5 pressure sores in a close proximity, 1 hypertrophic scar and 1 visible mark on the forehead due to technical mistake in graft harvesting. All children started scar management of the recipient site with contact therapy using adhesive tape Hypafix (BSN Medical); subsequently moving on to silicone sheets or gel in selected refractory cases. We present results for 68 scars in 41 patients with the longest follow-up period. Scar quality was evaluated after minimum of 10 years and scored according to the Vancouver Scar Assessment Scale. Very good and good results were obtained in 55 scars (80.9%), satisfactory in 11 scars (16.2%) and unsatisfactory in 2 scars (2.9%).
Conclusions:
Our results confirm, that the scalp is a reliable donor site in children and contact therapy is an adequate form of scar prevention/treatment of the recipient site.
