Burn Scars
With advanced treatments and world-class expertise, Shriners Children's cares for and improves the lives of children with burn scars every day.
Shriners Children’s Is Advancing Care and Healing for Children With Burns Using Skin Grafting
What is skin grafting?
Skin grafting is a highly-effective treatment for children with burn injuries. By quickly closing acute wounds, skin graft surgery helps regulate body temperature, prevent infection and maintain proper body fluid balance. Grafts from donors are used as a biomedical bandage and are replaced about every two weeks until the child's own tissue is ready to accept permanent grafts. These permanent grafts are taken from an area of the child’s body that has not been burned, typically using a split-thickness skin graft procedure.
Since the skin serves as a natural barrier to infection, skin grafts for burns are crucial to protecting children from life-threatening bacteria and germs that could complicate their recovery. The earlier a child receives skin graft surgery after a serious burn, the better their outcome will be.
Specific treatments and services may vary by location. Please contact a specific location for more information.
Learn About Skin Grafting
What is a skin graft? A skin graft involves transferring healthy skin to a damaged area to accelerate the healing process and reduce the risk of infection. Donor skin is used temporarily until the child is ready to receive their own skin graft.
There are different types of skin grafting procedures, depending on the size and severity of the burn. Each plays an important role in burn recovery.
Types of Skin Grafting
For burns covering a large surface area, donor skin is often required to temporarily protect the wound until the child’s body is ready to accept a skin graft for burns from their own healthy skin.
Donor Skin
Stored in our tissue bank, donor grafts are applied in strips to the wounded area. When there is not enough healthy skin available for grafting, a mesh skin graft may be used. This technique allows for greater coverage, although the mesh pattern may remain visible on the skin throughout the child’s life.
Sheet Grafting
This is the ideal method of covering burn wounds. A sheet of grafting skin is taken from an unburned area of the child’s body and transferred to the burn site. Sheet grafts are known for their durability, lower risk of wound contraction, and more natural appearance compared to other types of grafts.
Autografting
In this process, healthy skin from your child’s own body is used to cover the burned area. Though the donor site may be painful, it generally heals within 10-14 days, similar to a superficial second-degree burn.
Amniotic Membrane Grafts
Given their natural healing properties, grafts using amniotic membrane that is donated by new mothers post-birth are extremely helpful with treating facial burns and burns affecting the eyes.
Shalom spent months in the pediatric intensive care unit while he underwent surgeries and skin grafting to bring back mobility. I offer many thanks to Shriners Children's and their incredible mission.
Locations That Offer Skin Grafting
View All Related LocationsShriners Children's provides specialty health care to children around the world. We offer a comprehensive range of treatments, services and support to improve the quality of our patients’ lives and help them reach their full potential.
Shriners Children's Tissue Bank Ensures Supply in Times of Crisis
Shriners Children's Texas has one of only a few remaining on-site hospital tissue banks in the United States, providing grafts for an average of 200 children per year.
Conditions We Treat
View All Related Conditions
Chemical Burns
At Shriners Children’s, our burn care team uses advanced diagnostics and innovative treatments to care for children with chemical burns.
Electrical Burns
At Shriners Children's, our team uses advanced diagnostics and innovative treatments to care for electrical burns.
Flame Burn
A flame burn is caused by contact with fire, such as a burning candle or home fire. Our staff at Shriners Children's treat all flame burns, from small injuries to large burns requiring hospitalization.
Scalds
At Shriners Children’s our burn care team uses advanced diagnostics and innovative treatments to care for children with scalds.
Second-Degree Burns
Shriners Children's treats second-degree burns or partial thickness burns which destroy the top and middle layers of the skin.
Third-Degree Burns
At Shriners Children's our team is skilled at treating third degree burns, also referred to as full thickness burns, which are among the most serious burn injuries.
Fourth-Degree Burns
World-renowned burn care expertise at Shriners Children's provides hope and life-changing care to children with fourth-degree burns.
Next Steps
Request an Appointment
Families and caregivers seeking treatment should start by contacting us for an appointment.
Log in to the Patient Portal
Parents and guardians of existing patients can email, request records, schedule appointments and more.
Refer a Patient
Physicians and healthcare providers can request appointments, start transfers or contact us with questions.