The Role of Skin Substitutes in Dermatologic Surgery: A Practical Review

The number of skin substitutes (SS) available for wound care management has increased markedly in the last few decades. This presents a challenge as dermatologists attempt to determine the appropriate setting for a skin substitute use.

This is a practical review of SS used in dermatologic surgery to assist clinicians in their selection of SS by providing information about the efficacy, risk, availability, shelf-life, and relative cost of the available options.

Relevant data were identified through a search of PubMed, a manual search of relevant company websites, a manual search of the reference sections of relevant papers, and communicating with subject experts.

SS can be divided into 7 categories based on composition: amnion, cultured epithelial autograft, acellular allograft, cellular allografts, xenografts, composites, and synthetics. These groups offer unique benefits and disadvantages that are outlined in the manuscript and tables.

Considerations of the characteristics, settings of use, and efficacies of SS may allow more effective wound care and the potential for faster healing times. Additional studies are needed to evaluate and compare the healing benefits of these substitutes. Trials comparing the efficacy of each of the common SS vs each other and granulation are needed. J Drugs Dermatol. 2023;22(5): doi:10.36849/JDD.7132.