Skin grafting in burns

The purpose of this article is to review the history of skin grafting in burn injuries. A Medline and Google search were performed on the key words, skin graft, autograft, allograft, xenograft, burn surgery, burn excision, and burn grafting. The articles were reviewed and the additional references were provided by the bibliographies of these articles, which were also reviewed. The history of skin grafting in burn injury is traced from before the birth of Christ to present day. The first publication of successful skin grafts for wounds was authored by Swiss surgeon J.L. Reverdin in 1869. Progression in graft improvement was slow. The 1930s brought mechanical dermatomes into practice, while the mechanical mesher was not introduced until the 1960s. Finally, the practice of early excision and grafting, which is the cornerstone of burn care today, became common practice.