Does plastic surgery always involve skin grafting?
No. Skin grafting is used when there is no other satisfactory way of closing a large wound or defect. Skin grafts also are used to release a tight scar. A qualified plastic surgeon relies on his/her judgment and experience to decide when a graft is necessary, what type to use, where on the patient’s body to take it from, and to predict how it may look. A skin graft seldom matches the color and texture of the normal surrounding skin, although many blend well, especially on the face. Some scarring will occur where the graft joins the adjacent skin. There also may be scarring at the site from which the graft is taken, as well as changes in color and texture. For this reason, grafts are usually taken from areas covered by clothing, if possible.
Skin grafting is only used when it is the best way of closing a wound or defect. A qualified plastic surgeon uses judgment to decide the best way of reconstructing a defect. A skin graft may appear to have poor color match and texture compared to the native skin, but with careful selection of a skin graft donor site these problems may be minimized.
