TeresaK

Hello Nicole,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your upcoming surgeries….I can't speak to the SNLB procedure, but I did have a full thickness skin graft on my right ankle last October for a melanoma in situ.  If you want more feedback regarding the skin graft procedure and recovery, let me know.

Hope all goes well and you get good news,

Teresa

Hello Nicole,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your upcoming surgeries….I can't speak to the SNLB procedure, but I did have a full thickness skin graft on my right ankle last October for a melanoma in situ.  If you want more feedback regarding the skin graft procedure and recovery, let me know.

Hope all goes well and you get good news,

Teresa

Hi again,
I agree with K. Re : the skin graft is seriously ugly! However with my full thickness skin graft, you don’t get the road rash effect from the donor site…My donor site recovered well, with minimal pain and has left a long scar in the fold of my groin area.

The actual skin graft on my ankle took much longer to heal and was quite painful. The plastic surgeon said to plan for three days off work….lie!… I ended up off work for two weeks and when I returned, I used an ottoman to keep my leg elevated for another couple of weeks. ( I’m a counselor). When ever I walked a little extra, I always paid for it!!! Take it very easy and try to get someone to help with the kids.. I have permanent numbness below the graft site, and suffered from a lot of edema for several months in that ankle and foot. There were also shooting pains as nerves regenerated during healing. I also developed a weird, and ugly rash around the graft….surgeon had no clue how to treat it, I finally went back to derm’s office and they prescribed a steroid cream that fixed it quickly. It’s important to keep the graft site moisturized and protected…I have photos of the graft in various stages of recovery… The first ones are very graphic and ugly, but currently it
looks good… for a half dollar size scoop out of my leg:)
Good luck!
Teresa

Hi again,
I agree with K. Re : the skin graft is seriously ugly! However with my full thickness skin graft, you don’t get the road rash effect from the donor site…My donor site recovered well, with minimal pain and has left a long scar in the fold of my groin area.

The actual skin graft on my ankle took much longer to heal and was quite painful. The plastic surgeon said to plan for three days off work….lie!… I ended up off work for two weeks and when I returned, I used an ottoman to keep my leg elevated for another couple of weeks. ( I’m a counselor). When ever I walked a little extra, I always paid for it!!! Take it very easy and try to get someone to help with the kids.. I have permanent numbness below the graft site, and suffered from a lot of edema for several months in that ankle and foot. There were also shooting pains as nerves regenerated during healing. I also developed a weird, and ugly rash around the graft….surgeon had no clue how to treat it, I finally went back to derm’s office and they prescribed a steroid cream that fixed it quickly. It’s important to keep the graft site moisturized and protected…I have photos of the graft in various stages of recovery… The first ones are very graphic and ugly, but currently it
looks good… for a half dollar size scoop out of my leg:)
Good luck!
Teresa