Compromised Skin Grafts and Flaps
Wound Medicine

If your doctor used a skin graft to reconstruct skin over a wound, there’s a chance the graft could fail, disrupting the wound healing process. Compromised skin grafts and flaps are rare but require specialized wound treatments to heal when they occur. 

At MedCentris™, we provide the advanced wound healing treatments and technologies necessary to treat all types of compromised skin grafts and flaps. Our aggressive treatment plans center on your specific wound and your health as a whole while minimizing pain and discomfort. 

Contact MedCentris today to learn more about our Wound Medicine treatments and request a consultation. 

Advanced Wound Care Management for Compromised Skin Grafts and Flaps 

Skin grafts and skin flaps pose a viable treatment for healing wounds and surgical sites. When applying a skin graft, a medical professional takes skin from one area of the body and places it over the wound, helping to reconstruct a large area where the skin cannot close or heal completely on its own. Skin flaps are similar, yet they stay attached to the original site by a major artery or vein. 

Medical professionals weigh the reconstructive surgery risks and benefits when determining whether to perform a skin graft. This procedure has a relatively high success rate, which many professionals estimate to be 90% or higher.

Yet not all skin grafts are successful, and the ones that do not heal on their own require intervention from Wound Medicine Specialists. Skin grafts that fail are considered “compromised.”

At MedCentris, we frequently treat patients with compromised skin grafts and flaps. 

What Are Compromised Skins Grafts?

Usually, skin grafts heal over time, transferring the skin to the area of need. However, skin grafts and flaps may fail if the wound does not receive enough oxygen or blood flow. This is particularly common in individuals with diabetes and other conditions that impede wound healing. Compromised skin grafts may also be due to:

• Infections
• Tissue damage
• Vasculopathy
• Old age
• Obesity

Signs and Symptoms of Compromised Skin Grafts

Skin grafts often take several weeks to heal, and it can be challenging to tell when a skin graft has failed initially. Alert your medical provider to any of the following symptoms that could indicate a compromised skin graft:

• Pain in the affected area beyond what you would expect from the wound
• Numbness around the wound
• Bluish discoloration in the skin graft or the skin nearby
• The wound feeling cold to the touch 

If you suspect your skin graft has become compromised, contact MedCentris as soon as possible for a consultation. The sooner we develop your treatment plan, the better your chances of achieving efficient wound healing. Allowing the compromised skin graft to remain untreated could prolong the healing process further. 

How We Treat Compromised Skin Grafts and Flaps 

Physicians often recommend hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat compromised skin grafts and flaps, but this isn’t the best treatment option for everyone. Those with certain types of lung disease or who have recently had ear surgery shouldn’t use hyperbaric oxygen treatment. That’s why we offer alternative solutions to treat compromised skin flaps. 

MedCentris uses several advanced wound healing treatments to streamline and support healing for complex wounds. We will evaluate your wound and overall health to construct a treatment plan promoting the best chances of reliable healing. Our advanced wound healing treatments include options like: 

• Sharp debridement (microsurgical flap techniques)
• Negative pressure wound therapy
• Platelet-rich plasma
• Total contact casts
• Vascular screening
• Ultrasonic debridement
• And more

Conducting a tissue viability assessment helps us understand which procedures are the best options for the condition of your skin graft wound.