[Repair of contracture deformities of the patients with extremely limited donor skin at late postburn stage].

OBJECTIVE

To explore new methods to repair postburn contracture deformities in patients with extremely limited donor skin.

METHODS

Five severely burned patients with extremely limited donor skin but severe deformities were enrolled in the study. The mature and the pliable scarred skin was utilized as the donor site for reconstruction of the postburn deformities. Split-thickness scarred skin was harvested for repair of postburn deformities after the scarred skin was expanded by expander, while thin razor-thin scarred skin with allo-acellular dermal matrix (ADM) was employed for the repair of postburn deformities when skin expansion was not feasible.

RESULTS

All the expanded scarred skin and composite skin grafts survived completely with good function and configuration. The long-term follow-up result was satisfactory, and the grafted skin was similar to that with split-thickness skin grafting.

CONCLUSION

It is feasible to employ various split-thickness scarred skin for the reconstruction of postburn deformities. This technique is a new effective procedure for the reconstruction of postburn deformities, especially for those with extreme scarcity of donor site.