A paradigm for a skin graft substitute

Abstract

Skin grafts have remained relatively unchanged since their introduction as a medical treatment for burns/wounds. This paper seeks to open an academic discussion as to whether their use-by date has now been passed. A skin graft substitute is described in a paradigm using fine leaf gelatine sheets which inherently possess several distinct advantages including, discarding the harvest of autologous tissue from patient donor sites. A clinical study will be needed to determine its suitability taken together with the understanding that experimental animal studies may not provide unequivocal answers to its in situ modus operandi.