Skin graft ?!!!

I had two of them and they hurt worst than the melanoma surgery. I would suggest that they take skin from a part of your body that does not flex very much.

Best wishes,

Gene

I had two of them and they hurt worst than the melanoma surgery. I would suggest that they take skin from a part of your body that does not flex very much.

Best wishes,

Gene

I had two of them and they hurt worst than the melanoma surgery. I would suggest that they take skin from a part of your body that does not flex very much.

Best wishes,

Gene

Hi,

I had a skin graft for my melanoma (Stage 2A) on my foot. There are multiple types of skin grafts, but the two primary types are:

– Full-thickness

– Split-thickness

I had the full-thickness type. There was no casting, but the surgery involved connecting blood vessels, followed by a week in the hospital while they checked the graft frequently to be sure the blood flow did not fail. I was off my foot for about a month to let the stitches heal, then gradually got up on crutches. Now, I have no limitations and am very happy with look and function of my graft.

I believe split-thickness grafts are more common for the leg, as the thickness of the outcome is not as critical as it was on the sole of my foot. Perhaps someone with this type of graft will chime in, but I believe the recovery time may be even faster for those grafts, but possibly with a less aesthetic outcome.

Best of luck for a speedy recovery and a NED outcome,

Mark From California

Hi,

I had a skin graft for my melanoma (Stage 2A) on my foot. There are multiple types of skin grafts, but the two primary types are:

– Full-thickness

– Split-thickness

I had the full-thickness type. There was no casting, but the surgery involved connecting blood vessels, followed by a week in the hospital while they checked the graft frequently to be sure the blood flow did not fail. I was off my foot for about a month to let the stitches heal, then gradually got up on crutches. Now, I have no limitations and am very happy with look and function of my graft.

I believe split-thickness grafts are more common for the leg, as the thickness of the outcome is not as critical as it was on the sole of my foot. Perhaps someone with this type of graft will chime in, but I believe the recovery time may be even faster for those grafts, but possibly with a less aesthetic outcome.

Best of luck for a speedy recovery and a NED outcome,

Mark From California

Hi,

I had a skin graft for my melanoma (Stage 2A) on my foot. There are multiple types of skin grafts, but the two primary types are:

– Full-thickness

– Split-thickness

I had the full-thickness type. There was no casting, but the surgery involved connecting blood vessels, followed by a week in the hospital while they checked the graft frequently to be sure the blood flow did not fail. I was off my foot for about a month to let the stitches heal, then gradually got up on crutches. Now, I have no limitations and am very happy with look and function of my graft.

I believe split-thickness grafts are more common for the leg, as the thickness of the outcome is not as critical as it was on the sole of my foot. Perhaps someone with this type of graft will chime in, but I believe the recovery time may be even faster for those grafts, but possibly with a less aesthetic outcome.

Best of luck for a speedy recovery and a NED outcome,

Mark From California

I had a split thickness skin graft taken from my upper thigh and placed in a large excision of my scalp, about the size of a coffee mug. It didn't really hurt that bad. There was a large transparent Tegaderm bandage covering the graft site which did kinda look like hamburger for the first couple of weeks, but like I said, did not really hurt. After the graft was placed on my skull, it was covered with a plastic dome which was in turn covered with a piece of foam which was attached to my head with a lot of staples. The skull cap came off a week after the surgery, but I had to wear a funky white "stocking" on my head for the next month and be careful not to get my head wet every day. I also had to change the dressing every day.

The wound looked pretty questionable the first few weeks, almost like the graft wasn't taking. Some spots were pink but others a dead-looking gray. But my surgeon reassured me it was healing nicely and he was right.

One mistake that I made was that my first excision was done by a general surgeon, the same guy that did the sentinal node biopsy. I should have had a plastic surgeon close the excision, and that is what ultimately ended up happening. My plastic surgeon confided to me that when the general surgeon referred me over that he admitted he was out of his depth.

I would highly recommend getting a plastic surgeon to do your skin graft.

My head didn't really hurt that bad either but the excision site is completely numb today because of the nerves that were cut.

The donor site today just looks normal, you have to look really close to see that anything was done. My head looks like a big shiny crater with some little scabs here and there, a year and a half later, because of blood supply issues. There isn't enough blood supply for the entire thing and little bits of it die, scab over, heal, and then some other little bit will die somewhere else and the process repeats. It would make a great time lapse video study for a zombie apocalypse movie!

I doubt you will have the same issues, since I doubt yours will have to be so big. Mine is this big because I had to have a second excision at the original site because of a recurrence.

I had a split thickness skin graft taken from my upper thigh and placed in a large excision of my scalp, about the size of a coffee mug. It didn't really hurt that bad. There was a large transparent Tegaderm bandage covering the graft site which did kinda look like hamburger for the first couple of weeks, but like I said, did not really hurt. After the graft was placed on my skull, it was covered with a plastic dome which was in turn covered with a piece of foam which was attached to my head with a lot of staples. The skull cap came off a week after the surgery, but I had to wear a funky white "stocking" on my head for the next month and be careful not to get my head wet every day. I also had to change the dressing every day.

The wound looked pretty questionable the first few weeks, almost like the graft wasn't taking. Some spots were pink but others a dead-looking gray. But my surgeon reassured me it was healing nicely and he was right.

One mistake that I made was that my first excision was done by a general surgeon, the same guy that did the sentinal node biopsy. I should have had a plastic surgeon close the excision, and that is what ultimately ended up happening. My plastic surgeon confided to me that when the general surgeon referred me over that he admitted he was out of his depth.

I would highly recommend getting a plastic surgeon to do your skin graft.

My head didn't really hurt that bad either but the excision site is completely numb today because of the nerves that were cut.

The donor site today just looks normal, you have to look really close to see that anything was done. My head looks like a big shiny crater with some little scabs here and there, a year and a half later, because of blood supply issues. There isn't enough blood supply for the entire thing and little bits of it die, scab over, heal, and then some other little bit will die somewhere else and the process repeats. It would make a great time lapse video study for a zombie apocalypse movie!

I doubt you will have the same issues, since I doubt yours will have to be so big. Mine is this big because I had to have a second excision at the original site because of a recurrence.

I had a split thickness skin graft taken from my upper thigh and placed in a large excision of my scalp, about the size of a coffee mug. It didn't really hurt that bad. There was a large transparent Tegaderm bandage covering the graft site which did kinda look like hamburger for the first couple of weeks, but like I said, did not really hurt. After the graft was placed on my skull, it was covered with a plastic dome which was in turn covered with a piece of foam which was attached to my head with a lot of staples. The skull cap came off a week after the surgery, but I had to wear a funky white "stocking" on my head for the next month and be careful not to get my head wet every day. I also had to change the dressing every day.

The wound looked pretty questionable the first few weeks, almost like the graft wasn't taking. Some spots were pink but others a dead-looking gray. But my surgeon reassured me it was healing nicely and he was right.

One mistake that I made was that my first excision was done by a general surgeon, the same guy that did the sentinal node biopsy. I should have had a plastic surgeon close the excision, and that is what ultimately ended up happening. My plastic surgeon confided to me that when the general surgeon referred me over that he admitted he was out of his depth.

I would highly recommend getting a plastic surgeon to do your skin graft.

My head didn't really hurt that bad either but the excision site is completely numb today because of the nerves that were cut.

The donor site today just looks normal, you have to look really close to see that anything was done. My head looks like a big shiny crater with some little scabs here and there, a year and a half later, because of blood supply issues. There isn't enough blood supply for the entire thing and little bits of it die, scab over, heal, and then some other little bit will die somewhere else and the process repeats. It would make a great time lapse video study for a zombie apocalypse movie!

I doubt you will have the same issues, since I doubt yours will have to be so big. Mine is this big because I had to have a second excision at the original site because of a recurrence.

i had a split thickness graft on my back for melanoma in situ 30 years ago.  Donor site was called "hip" but really side of one buttock so never really shows.  You can see a faint outline of the donor site if you look closely.  The thing to know is that the surface of the skin graft  won't be smooth.  There will most likely be a depression or divot as I call it as they have to remove all the subcutaneous tissue.  It's never bothered me much as I can't see my back but it is noticeable.  Something to prepare for.  

i had a split thickness graft on my back for melanoma in situ 30 years ago.  Donor site was called "hip" but really side of one buttock so never really shows.  You can see a faint outline of the donor site if you look closely.  The thing to know is that the surface of the skin graft  won't be smooth.  There will most likely be a depression or divot as I call it as they have to remove all the subcutaneous tissue.  It's never bothered me much as I can't see my back but it is noticeable.  Something to prepare for.  

i had a split thickness graft on my back for melanoma in situ 30 years ago.  Donor site was called "hip" but really side of one buttock so never really shows.  You can see a faint outline of the donor site if you look closely.  The thing to know is that the surface of the skin graft  won't be smooth.  There will most likely be a depression or divot as I call it as they have to remove all the subcutaneous tissue.  It's never bothered me much as I can't see my back but it is noticeable.  Something to prepare for.