What Is a Microskin Graft?

Abstract

Ultra thin or thin split thickness skin grafts (STSG-UT, STSG-T) are minced into small skin pieces. The sizes of the small skin pieces varies from 0. 2 to 0. 8 mm and the thickness varies from 0. 15 to 0. 3 mm for the so called “microskin grafts” (MSGs). Ultra-thin grafts of 3–6 thousandth of an inch (0. 08–0. 15 mm) are used for resurfacing. There is less hypopigmentation of the donor site after healing is complete, and reharvesting may be done if needed. Fang et al,¹ evaluated dermatome settings from 0. 002 to 0. 012 in. (0. 05–0. 3 mm). First, with feeler gauges, he verified the dermatome settings. Second, he harvested the skin at various dermatome settings and measured the thickness histologically. He found that (1) the der-matome settings are reasonably accurate; (2) harvesting useful sheets at 0. 002 and 0. 004 in. (0. 05–0. 10 mm) is virtually impossible; (3) the variability of histologic graft thickness is enormous; and (4) a dermatome setting of 0. 006 in. (0. 15 mm) yields useful grafts. Further, graft thinner than 0. 006 in. may contain no epidermal stem cells. If the graft contains no epidermal stem cells, it may initially take?? but then disappear over time, as the cells contained in the graft die and are not replaced. He no longer used the term epidermal autografting but rather ultrathin split-thickness grafting. To harvest these grafts, he merely set the dermatome to 0. 006 in. (0. 15 mm) and made all necessary midcourse corrections to obtain translucent grafts.