Forearm Skin Graft: What to Expect

A surgeon removes a thin layer of skin from a donor site and places it over a prepared forearm wound. The graft needs close contact with the wound bed so new blood supply can develop. A dressing or gentle support helps protect that contact. The donor site heals separately and may feel tight, tender, itchy, or sensitive. Graft texture and colour can differ from nearby skin, and the scar may change gradually.

Follow the dressing instructions exactly and keep the graft protected from rubbing, soaking, and unapproved creams. Keep the forearm elevated when advised to limit swelling. Do not remove a firmly attached dressing unless your surgical team tells you to. Attend wound checks, take prescribed medicines as directed, and begin movement exercises only within the plan provided. Once healed, protect the area from sun and moisturise if recommended.

Contact the surgical team promptly if the dressing becomes soaked with blood, the graft lifts, pain increases sharply, or the skin becomes increasingly red, hot, swollen, or foul-smelling. Fever, pus, loss of sensation, or a graft that turns unusually pale, dark, or dusky also needs prompt assessment. Emergency help is needed for uncontrolled bleeding or severe breathing symptoms after a medicine.

Ask where the donor skin will come from, how the dressing will be managed, when movement can increase, and how a graft failure or infection would be recognised. Ask when scar care can begin.