Full‐Thickness Mesh Grafts

Skin grafting may be necessary when wounds cannot be closed with direct apposition or covered with local or regional flaps. Solid sheets of free skin can be placed over wounds; however, fluid collection under the graft inhibits “graft take” (revascularization). A mesh graft is a full- or partial-thickness sheet of skin that has been fenestrated to allow drainage and expansion. Mesh grafts are useful in many locations on the body because of their ability to conform to uneven surfaces. Mesh grafts are placed over healthy wound beds, usually ones filled with granulation tissue. Blood circulation and lymphatic drainage of the graft are usually present by the fifth day after placement, as long as the graft has appropriately adhered to an underlying vascular bed. The open mesh wounds in the graft will heal by contraction and re-epithelialization in 1 to 2 weeks.