Open Grafting of Raw Surfaces of the Hand

¹ Departments of Surgery, Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

There is increasing evidence that the environmental temperature and humidity about a skin graft may influence its survival. There is also evidence that adhesion between a skin graft and a clean granulating surface occurs almost the moment that the graft is applied. This has led to a decrease in the use of dressings for compressing and immobilizing skin grafts applied to granulating surfaces. The temperature of the graft approximates more closely the normal temperature of the skin, and the wound is kept dryer by evaporation. Limited motion of underlying parts such as the fingers or the abdominal or chest walls will not cause displacement of the adherent grafts. The grafts will move with the underlying tissues.

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