Am I A Good Candidate For Skin Gatfting For Forearm Self-Inflicted Scars?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am seeking treatment for self harm scars using the autograft method that Dr. Eppley discusses in “Treatment of Self-Harm Forearm Scars with a Rotated Ultrathin Autograft.” I was hoping to find out if I would be a candidate and approximately how much the procedure would cost. Attached are photos of scars on L forearm which are greater than 10 years and no previous treatment attempted. I am very grateful for any information. Thank you very much for your time.

A:Thank you for your inquiry and sending your pictures. One of the qualifying factors in the decision to trade-off a skin graft scar from that of self-inflicted scars is how close are all of the scar areas. Your left forearm scars are in a discreet area closely packed together. That is a far better situation than and if they are widely spaced apart all over the arm. The very outline you have drawn is exactly be excisional pattern and skin graft replacement area. The second qualifying factor is whether you would consider a skin graft scar better than the four our scars that you have. I would not consider skin graft scars necessarily better looking than the existing scars, as you are never going to be able to restore the normal appearance of the skin. The reason some patients may consider it a reasonable trade-off is the ability to explain it is much easier and it is obvious that the skin graft area no longer looks like self-inflicted scars. If one expects a skin graft to look like normal skin that would not be a reasonable expectation.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Plastic Surgeon