A quick and easy method of templating full-thickness skin grafts.

The authors would like to present a quick and easy method of templating full-thickness skin graft donor sites.

Dear Sirs,

Full-thickness skin grafts are a versatile reconstructing tool for any plastic surgeon. This is particularly so for reconstructing head and neck defects following skin cancer excision.,

Techniques such as cutting templates from foil, cottonoid, paper, gauze and Telfa to guide the size of graft required have been described in the literature.3, 4, 5 Despite being well-established methods, they can lead to user error and are time consuming.

Hence, the authors would like to present an alternative method of templating full-thickness skin grafts by the use of a gloved hand to mark out the donor site. This method is most commonly used for full-thickness skin grafts that are used to reconstruct defects following skin cancer excision.

Figure 1 provides a pictorial representation of the technique described. After marking the required excision margins, an imprint is taken using a gloved digit or palm (depending on the size). This should be done immediately after marking the skin whilst the ink is still wet (Figure 2).

Figure 1

Ink template taken using gloved digit.

Figure 2

Transposed ink template to donor site.

Then, press this imprint against the donor site which should produce a mark for your full-thickness skin graft. Enhance this stamped template to ensure it is easily visible before administering the local anaesthetic.

The authors use this template and score the outer edge before harvesting the full-thickness graft to ease contouring to the recipient site and to ensure enough skin is harvested.

Use of this method improves both accuracy and efficiency by reducing the number of steps required to undertake the procedure and is a good alternative to the previously described methods.

Declaration of Competing Interest

None declared.