Split Thickness Skin Graft to Lower Leg

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this video is to demonstrate the steps of harvesting, meshing, and applying a split thickness skin graft (STSG) to a lower leg to cover a lateral fasciotomy wound.

Methods: A patient with a gunshot wound to his tibia has already undergone intramedullary rodding of the fracture and has had and medial and lateral fasciotomies for compartment syndrome. In the video, the lateral leg wound is covered with an STSG from the ipsilateral, lateral thigh. The graft is harvested with a dermatome, then meshed, and then inset for full coverage of the wound. A sterile, negative pressure dressing is applied at the conclusion of the case.

Results: The video is 5 minutes, 46 seconds duration in time and 1,922,884,000 bytes in size.

Conclusion: Various techniques of STSG have been described. This video demonstrates a successful strategy for coverage of a lateral leg wound with an STSG and negative pressure dressing.