What is the Difference Between Skin Grafting and Plastic Surgery

The key difference between skin grafting and plastic surgery is that skin grafting is a type of plastic surgery that replaces skin over lost or damaged skin tissue, while plastic surgery is a collection of techniques to repair and reconstruct damaged or missing tissue and skin.

Different accidents such as burns or serious injuries and other medical conditions cause damage to the tissue of the body. These conditions can also prevail from birth. During such instances, it is extremely important to remove damaged tissue and replace them with healthy tissues to avoid certain risks. Plastic surgery is a modern technique to rectify such abnormalities and ensure the regaining of a person’s normal appearance while improving his or her self-esteem, quality of life, and confidence. Skin grafting is the most frequently used technique in plastic surgery.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Skin Grafting 
3. What is Plastic Surgery
4. Similarities – Skin Grafting and Plastic Surgery
5. Skin Grafting vs Plastic Surgery in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Skin Grafting vs Plastic Surgery

What is Skin Grafting?

Skin grafting is a plastic surgery technique that involves the removal of skin from the healthy, unaffected region of the body to cover a region of lost or damaged skin tissue. The main aim of skin grafting is to restore the normal look as much as possible. Skin grafting is a good technique to rectify damaged skin tissue due to bone fractures, severe wounds with high infection, and surgically removed areas due to cancers or burns.

Figure 01: Skin Grafting

There are two methods of skin grafts: full-thickness skin graft and partial or split-thickness skin graft. During a full-thickness skin graft, the full layer of the skin, including the top and underneath layers from healthy tissue such as the neck, behind the ear, the upper arm, is transferred to the affected area of skin tissue. During a full-thickness skin graft, identification of blood vessels is hard. Hence, the surgical dressing is kept for a few days to increase the rate of healing. During partial thickness skin grafting, a thin layer of skin is transferred from a healthy area with high healing rates (calf and thigh) to a damaged portion of the skin.

What is a Plastic Surgery?

Plastic surgery is a collection of techniques to repair and reconstruct damaged or missing tissue and skin. The main aim of plastic surgery is to restore the appearance of damaged skin or tissue back to normal or close to normal as possible. Plastic surgery is a different concept compared to cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgeries change a person’s appearance according to a desirable look they select. Instances, where the surgeons use plastic surgery techniques, include abnormalities from birth such as cleft lip and palate, birthmarks and webbed fingers, areas damaged due to removal of cancerous tissues, and serious injuries, including extensive burns.

Figure 02: Plastic Surgery

The techniques used during plastic surgery include skin grafts, skin flap surgery, and tissue expansion. During skin flap surgery, a part of the tissue from one region of the body is transferred to another region with abnormality along with blood vessels. During repositioning of such healthy tissue, the healthy tissue is kept attached partially to the body. Other than these techniques, plastic surgeons utilize a few other methods such as fat transfer grafting, prosthetic devices, and vacuum closure. The risk factors associated with plastic surgery include bleeding, infection, pain, discomfort, and scarring.

What are the Similarities Between Skin Grafting and Plastic Surgery?

• Skin grafting and Plastic surgery rectify damaged tissues.
• Both involve the removal of damaged tissue and replacement with new tissue.
• However, they consist of risk factors post-surgery.
• Both types are modern techniques used by surgeons.
• They ensure the regaining of a person’s normal appearance.

What is the Difference Between Skin Grafting and Plastic Surgery?

The key difference between skin grafting and plastic surgery is that skin grafting is a major type of plastic surgery done on the skin, while plastic surgery is a group of techniques to repair and reconstruct damaged or missing tissue and skin. Skin grafting uses two subtypes: full-thickness skin graft and partial or split-thickness skin graft. Plastic surgery utilizes many subtypes, such as skin flap surgery, tissue expansion, vacuum closure, and fat transfer. The main risk factors associated with plastic surgery are infection, pain, and discomfort, and in skin grafting, it is scarring and bleeding.

The below infographic presents the differences between skin grafting and plastic surgery in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Skin Grafting vs Plastic Surgery

Skin grafting is a plastic surgery technique where healthy skin is removed from a healthy, unaffected region of the body to cover a region of lost or damaged skin tissue. Plastic surgery is a group of techniques to repair and reconstruct damaged or missing tissue and skin. Thus, this is the key difference between skin grafting and plastic surgery. The main aim of skin grafting is to restore the normal look as much as possible. The main aim of plastic surgery is to restore the appearance of damaged skin or tissue back to normal or close to normal as possible.

Reference:

1. “Plastic Surgery – What Happens.” NHS Choices, NHS.
2. “Skin Graft: What Is It, Risks, Benefits & Recovery.” Cleveland Clinic.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Skin Grafting” By Scientific Animations – (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Plastic surgery to the face for injuries around the eyes Wellcome L0050372”  By Welcome Gallery (CC BY 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXFn5yrnZ6YsqOx07CcnqZemLyue9ahmK1lmah6tbTEZpuinpaav6a6wp5km52krLKmuoysoqKmXZy%2ForLToqWgZZGjsW68y5qqraGTYsC2vsaeqbJn