How to Take Care of a Skin Graft

Use a wrap bandage to cover gauze over wound dressings.

Skin grafts heal skin extensively damaged by burns, surgery, skin cancer, or other skin conditions. During a skin graft, surgeons remove damaged skin and replace it with skin from the patient, skin from a cadaver, tissue from animal sources, or a synthetic tissue replacement. After surgery, the patient encourages healing of the graft by keeping the area clean and dry, monitoring the area for infection, and promoting his own overall health.

Instructions

1. Avoid getting the grafted area wet during showering. Some doctors recommend to avoid showering altogether after surgery until the graft is healed, and you'll need to use a waterless bathing kit to keep the rest of the body clean.

2. Clean ooze around the bolster, a temporary dressing sewn by the surgeon into the skin to cover the skin graft, using a cotton swab dabbed around the perimeter. If secretions have hardened, wet the cotton swab with a solution of equal parts water and hydrogen peroxide, then dab it around the area.

3. Visit the doctor as directed five to seven days after the surgery so she can remove the bolster. The doctor replaces the bolster with petroleum-soaked wound dressing.

4. Remove the old dressing each day, and replace with new petroleum-soaked wound dressing, being sure to cover the entire skin graft.

5. Cover the petroleum-soaked wound dressing with gauze. Secure the gauze with a wrap bandage or gauze tape, depending on the location of the skin graft.

6. Apply bland (plain) oil to the skin graft after discontinuing the petroleum dressings as directed by a doctor, to keep the skin graft lubricated.

7. Inform a doctor immediately about any signs of infection, including fever. Take your temperature if you are feeling ill. Common signs of infection are muscle aches, excessive pain or redness at the skin graft site, excessive bleeding or discharge, or a general feeling of being unwell.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not remove the bolster on your own. The bolster can only be removed at the doctor's office.

References

• Aurora Health Care Health Information: Skin Grafts
• University of Michigan Health System: Post Operative Care of a Bolster
• University of Michigan Healthy System: Skin Graft Dressing After Bolster Removal

Resources

• American Society for Dermatologic Surgery: Find a Dermatologic Surgeon