Skin grafting is one of the most commonly used procedures in the plastic surgical field. However, skin flaps are preferred to skin grafts because hyperpigmentation, contraction, and creases develop more frequently in skin grafts. Nevertheless, skin grafting should be performed when the defects are multiple and extensive as in burns, or are adjacent to major anatomical structures. In these cases, full thickness skin grafts attached to subcutaneous tat may be used to overcome above disadvantages of skin grafts and to replace skin flaps.
In this study, postoperative hyperbaric oxygen therapies were used to improve suvivals of these composite grafts during the plasmatic imbibition period. Experimental cases were randomly selected by the blind method. Full thickness skin grafts containing adequate amount of subcutaneous fat or cartilage were used to improve the quality of the grafted skin Postoperatively, the patient was placed in the hyperbaric chamber of 2.5ATA 100% oxygen for 60minutes, twice a day and 10 times overall. Rate was estimated on 7th postoperative day by gross findings.
Authors concluded that this combined hyperbaric oxygen therapy could extend the donor site including the abdomen and increases the survival rate of skin grafts.
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