Facial Wound Coverage using Split Skin Graft from the Scalp: An Objective Color Analysis Tool

Abstract

Background: Skin grafting, a major discovery in surgery, has revolutionized the management of large wounds and skin and soft tissue losses. Wound healing is expedited, skin cover is achieved and morbidity and mortality are minimized.

But in cases, where the face has been grafted, disappointment appears with time. The graft starts acquiring a different color and texture. There is shrinkage of the graft also. All these lead to a patchy appearance, facial asymmetry and distortion of facial expressions. The patient is affected psychologically. The surgeon is approached repeatedly to rectify these developments.

Several measures are taken to produce an improvement. They have limitations and are not feasible in all cases. The surgeon often feels that the best answer could have been an appropriately thick skin graft that would match in color and texture with the face without much shrinkage in the future.

Methods: Suitable graft donor areas for the face such as the post-auricular area, neck, volar aspect of forearms and so on are all based on subjective assessments. An objective color analysis method would be more precise. This study dwells upon using color analysis software for making these assessments.

Results: the present study used this method of objective assessment of skin grafting for the face, from a less-used donor area, done on 5 patients from the year 2006 to 2014 which approaches the desired results. It was determined with the help of digital photography and a computer using objective color analysis software.

Conclusion: Color matching of skin grafts has been done using inaccurate, subjective assessments. This method of objective assessment showed that scalp skin grafts produced a good color match for the face. It also proposes this as a precise tool for future studies in this area.