5 Things to Know About Skin Grafting Recovery

You’re one of the millions of Americans who have developed a venous ulcer (they affect up to 3% of the population) and healing isn’t happening readily. So, we’re taking the next step with skin grafting to protect your body from invasive bacteria and infection.

Skin grafting can be an incredibly useful tool when it comes to slow-healing foot, ankle, and leg wounds, and one that Dr. Thomas Rambacher and the team at Foot Ankle Leg Wound Care Orange County turn to regularly.

While no two people have the same skin grafting experience, there are some rules of thumb for recovery that we want to share with you. These best practices can go a long way toward getting you to the other side of your venous ulcer journey.

1. Follow our instructions very carefully

This may seem obvious, but we really want to underscore the importance of following our aftercare instructions very closely. Skin grafting is a complex procedure and one that you only want to do one time around.

We will supply you with written instructions that you can have on hand at home and if you have any questions, we’re just a phone call away.

In fact, if something isn’t covered in our instructions and you’re wondering what to do, don’t do anything until you talk with us. The early days of a skin graft are tricky and fragile and you don’t want to do anything that might interfere with the graft taking hold.

2. Keep the skin graft from getting wet

It’s likely that we’ll dress your skin graft and that you’ll keep this dressing on for at least 1-2 weeks, if not longer. During this time it’s imperative that the dressing not get wet, so please pay close attention to keeping the area dry.

3. Keep the skin graft elevated as much as possible

While you heal and wait for the graft to integrate, please keep your lower leg elevated as much as possible to help blood flow in and out of the area.

4. Protect the skin graft against trauma

As we mentioned, the area where we place the graft is extremely fragile and it’s very important that this graft be protected against anything hitting it.

So, if you’ve got kids, pets, or obstructions like coffee tables in your home, be especially aware that none of these run into your graft. We suggest that you move carefully for 3-4 weeks and be very aware of your surroundings.

5. Keep up with compression

The odds are good that we will put a compression stocking over the dressing and skin graft to help with circulation. Please wear this compression stocking according to our instructions. In fact, it’s probably a good idea to get used to compression stocking as you’ll likely be wearing them for the foreseeable future to protect against further venous ulcers.

Again, we will be far more specific when it comes to your own at-home care and we’ll provide you with a customized plan. But the tips that we just reviewed are ones that anyone embarking on a skin graft journey should follow.

If you have more questions about supporting your skin grafting recovery, please call our office in Mission Viejo, California, at 949-832-6018 or request an appointment online today.