How Skin Grafts are Used to Treat Burns

Burn injuries range from being quite mild, like sunburn, to very severe, like burns from touching fire. Burns cause pain and can result in long-term complications such as scarring or limited function of the affected body part. Burn severity is classified based on how deep the burns are which ultimately affects the recovery process. Skin grafting, which involves replacing burn-damaged skin with healthy skin, can be used to treat severe burns and help them heal. Skin grafts can come from the burn patients themselves for from other people who volunteer to donate some of their skin. This article explores how burns affect the body and describes the science of skin grafts, including how they work and new techniques to improve burn healing, like stem cell therapy.