Absence of pathological scarring in the donor site of the scalp in burns: an analysis of 295 cases.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to describe the incidence of complications on scalp from which a thin split-skin graft was harvested (0.005-0.007 in.) of the donor site in children and adult burn victims.


METHODS
We reviewed the medical records of 295 burn patients admitted in the Burn Unit of the Clinical Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, from January 1998 to December 2007, whose scalps were used as donor site for grafts. Skin-graft thickness varied from 0.005 in. to 0.007 in. The occurrence of pathological healing was evaluated clinically and the time of epithelisation by the main surgeon and a plastic surgeon or a staff nurse.


RESULTS
Of the 295 patients whose scalps were used as donor site, 274 were followed from 6 months to 10 years after the procedure (median 18.2 months). Twenty-one patients were lost to follow-up in the first 6 months. No hypertrophic scarring or keloids on the donor site was observed. Five patients (1.82%) presented with folliculitis and two of them were evaluated with small areas of alopecia (0.7%), treated with resection of these areas and primary suture. The average time of epithelisation of the donor site was 7 days.


CONCLUSIONS
The harvest of thinner split graft from the scalp is a safe procedure.
Farina
Jayme Adriano
JA
Division of Plastic Surgery, Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto, FMRP, Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. jafarinajr@fmrp.usp.br
Freitas
Frederico A S
FA
Ungarelli
Luis F
LF
Rodrigues
Janine M
JM
Rossi
Lidia A
LA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000505:Alopecia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery; D002056:Burns / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017439:Cicatrix, Hypertrophic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007627:Keloid / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000628:therapy; D012535:Scalp / Q000473:pathology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult