What Is a Skin Graft? Types, Healing, and When It's Used

A skin graft is a piece of healthy skin taken from one area of the body (the donor site) and placed over a wound elsewhere to help it heal — commonly used for burns, large wounds, or after the removal of skin lesions where the surrounding skin can't simply be stretched to close the gap.

Split-Thickness vs. Full-Thickness Grafts

A split-thickness graft takes the top layers of skin, leaving deeper skin behind at the donor site to heal on its own — this allows larger areas to be covered and the donor site to regenerate. A full-thickness graft takes the entire depth of skin from a smaller donor area, which needs to be surgically closed afterward, but tends to give a better cosmetic match and more durable coverage for smaller defects, particularly on the face.

How a Graft "Takes"

For a graft to survive, it must first receive nutrients by simple absorption from the wound bed, then develop its own new blood supply over the following days — this is why the wound bed needs to be well vascularised and free of infection, and why grafts are protected from movement and pressure in the early healing period.

Skin Graft vs. Flap

Unlike a flap, which brings its own blood supply with it, a graft depends entirely on the wound bed to keep it alive — which is why grafts work well on clean, well-vascularised wounds, while more complex or poorly vascularised defects usually need a flap instead.

Healing Timeline

Early graft "take" is usually assessed within the first week, with the graft site continuing to mature, soften, and change colour over several months as it fully integrates with the surrounding skin.

Learn more on the burn reconstruction procedure page.