Plastic surgery is known by several terms such as reconstructive surgery or cosmetic surgery. While it is commonly associated with elective procedures such as rhinoplasties (nose jobs), breast augmentation and liposuction, there are also functional applications.
Under the heading of “reconstructive procedures,” are surgeries correcting handicaps and impairments from severe burns, facial fractures, birth defects, cancer and/or tumors and other abnormalities that may be congenital or a result of disease.
For burn victims with especially severe scarring on the face or other parts of the body, reconstructive surgery usually entails the use of skin grafts. Skin grafting is a procedure in which real or artificial skin is placed over the damaged area to minimize dangerous scarring from 3rd degree burns. Real skin is often taken from an undamaged part of the body and transplanted to the area needing protection.
Skin grafting procedures where the donor and recipient are one in the same are known as autografts and are the ideal situation, since rejection is not a factor, and therefore the most commonly used. Isogenic grafts also fair well and occur when the recipient and donor are identical genetically (identical twins), but not the same person. Allogenic grafts are when the donor-recipient pair are merely from the same species, in this case, human to human. The last two types of grafts are known as xenogeneic and prosthetic. Xenogenic grafts go from one species to another and prosthetic grafts are made of synthetic materials.
Other variations of grafts depend on the layers of skin involved. A split-thickness skin graft is the top 2 layers of skin from the donor site. Full-thickness skin grafts contain all skin layers including the epidermis or top layer of skin as well as the dermis, the deeper skin layers. The full-thickness skin grafts are much more complicated to transplant, and have a higher risk of failure because the flap of skin transplanted also includes a layer of fat and muscle that must be integrated into the transplant site through blood vessel connections.
As stated above, skin grafting is largely a procedure for burn victims, but not limited to only those patients. Other reasons skin grafts may be performed include: larger wounds, ulcers that do not heal (diabetic), intensive and invasive surgeries needing grafting for healing purposes, the reduction of certain bacteria where large skin loss occurs, cosmetic correction of skin damage or loss, skin cancer procedures and open fractures.
