Describe the series of events that occur in skin which is healing with the help of a skin-graft?

Answer 1

Initial treatment of a third-degree burn requires the debridement of the burned skin (called the eschar) and administration of topical antibiotics. The debridement process is often accomplished by placing the burned body part (or even the entire patient) in a hydrotherapy tank - - the jet-like propulsion of the water can help gently remove the burned tissue. Then, to minimize fluid loss and the risk of infection, cadaveric skin, pig skin, or a human amniotic membrane is temporarily placed over the debrided area. This temporary covering is removed after the patient is stabilized and, depending on the size of the burn, it is replaced by skin harvested from elsewhere on the patient's body or by a synthetic skin graft. In synthetic skin graft placement, a plastic meshwork covered with collagen and ground cartilage is placed onto the damaged skin. Over time, the patient's own dermal blood vessels grow into the synthetic graft. Macrophages follow, digesting the graft's collagen and cartilage while fibroblasts migrating in lay down new connective tissue. As this process continues, healthy epidermis is harvested from non-burned parts of the patient's body and allowed to proliferate in the laboratory. Given the appropriate, nutrient-rich environment, these harvested epidermal cells can form fairly large sheets of tissue. As the tissue in the synthetic dermis is reorganized, these harvested sheets of epidermal cells are placed over the top and allowed to proliferate until the entire burned surface is re-covered with epidermis. While complete healing is the ultimate goal, severe scarring of the skin often results from third-degree burns.