Several authors have described the management for donor sites. but actually there are still many unsolved problems in dressing materials and methods.
We observed the rate of the donor site healing processes with management using three kinds of dressing materials. In the 50 patients who received split-thickness skin grafts from April 1981 to February 1982, the following clinical and microscopic results were observed in the reepithelization rate of donor sites with management using Tulgras (MDS), Furacine gauze, and Porcine skin.
1. According to our standard of clinical healing, the spontanuous separationtime of studied meterials was 11.14±1.45 days for Tulgras (MDS), 11.79±1.27 days for Furacine gauze, and 14.17±2.57 days for Porcine skin.
2. The infection rate was observed as 4% for Tulgras (MDS), 6% for Furacine gauze, and 26% for Porcine skin and the most common infective organisms were found to be Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens.
3. Postoperative pain continued for about 5 to 7 days in the cases of Tulgras (MDS) and Furacine gauze, however, exception for the instances of infection, there were no complaints of pain due to the porcine xenografts.
4. By microscopic examination, the donor sites treated with Tulgras (MDS) showed proliferating epithelial cells appearing at the raw connective tissue surface, and fibroblasts and new capillaries developing in the dermal layer at 5 days postoperatively. At 10 days postoperatively, the regenerated epithelial cells could be seen 3 or 4 layers thick.
But in Furacine gauze and Porcine skin treated donor sites the regenerated epithelial cells could be observed only after 7 days postoperatively, and at 10 postoperative days 1 or 2 layers of epithelial cells were observed.
Compared to other dressing materials there was a severe inflammatory reaction seen especially in Porcine skin.
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