Patients undergoing skin grafting procedures will require wound management of both the actual skin graft and the donor site from where it has been removed – these two wounds require specific management and present very different challenges in practice.
The management of donor site wounds is of particular importance, as the process involves the creation of a new wound that is likely to cause additional pain and/or scarring to the patient, and may have a knock-on psychosocial impact. With the emphasis placed on the success of the skin graft, the donor site can be all too easily forgotten, yet the prevalence of complication and potential effect on patient wellbeing should demand a more rigorous and holistic approach.
Selecting a suitable dressing for donor site wounds has been identified as a key area of management that required further development and discussion.
As such, a group of global experts met in Seoul, South Korea, in March 2018 to:
- Discuss what we currently know about donor site management
- Collate experience of strategies and treatments used in the management of donor site wounds
- Identify the key properties of an ideal dressing for use in donor site wounds
- Devise a treatment pathway for use in practice.
The discussions at the meeting resulted in this document, which aims to provide clinicians with all the information and resources they need to manage donor site wounds in practice.
Supported by Mundipharma
