What should you know about head skin graft?

A surgeon may recommend grafting after an injury, burn, removal of a growth, or another wound that cannot be closed safely with nearby skin. The graft may come from another area of your body. It is placed over a prepared wound and secured with dressings, stitches, staples, or adhesive, depending on the site and graft type.

During the first days, the graft must develop a blood supply from the wound bed. Movement, pressure, scratching, and fluid collecting beneath it can interfere with attachment. The donor area also needs dressing care and may feel sore or tight.

Follow the written dressing instructions and keep the graft and donor site clean and protected. Do not lift a dressing, apply ointment, wash the area, or remove stitches unless your surgical team has said it is appropriate. Avoid rubbing, picking, tight hats, strenuous activity, and direct sun exposure until you are cleared.

Attend the planned wound checks so the team can assess colour, attachment, drainage, and healing. Use only the pain relief recommended for you, and tell the team about medicines that affect bleeding or healing.

Contact the surgical team promptly if the graft becomes increasingly pale, dark, loose, swollen, or painful, or if a dressing becomes soaked. Seek urgent care for spreading redness, pus, fever, heavy bleeding, confusion, or severe pain that is not settling.

Ask which graft type was used, where the donor skin came from, how long the dressing should stay in place, when hair washing and normal activity can resume, and which changes should be reported the same day.